The Book of Seals to the Magical World
by teddylonglong
Summary: Harry finds a strange old book that possesses a mysterious power and helps him break the seals of the magical world. Completely AU, partly OOC, partly childfic. A time travel story. Pairing HP/CH
1. Prologue

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**1 - Prologue**

Six-year-old Harry glanced around in amazement. For the first time in his life, he had just entered a bookshop. It was a small bookshop on a side street, and his aunt merely dragged Dudley and Harry into the shop to look for a guidebook about Majorca, where the three Dursleys were going to spend their winter holidays.

While Petunia was eagerly checking the '_Travel_' section and Dudley was disinterestedly standing in a corner, sucking his thumb, Harry skimmed the shelf in front of him with interest.

'_The Book of Seals to the Magical World_,' he read in disbelief. '_I thought there was no such thing as magic_.' Before he even realized what he was doing, his hands began to act on their own accord and pulled the old tome off of the shelf, noticing that it was quite heavy. '_Oh, this book is absolutely beautiful_,' Harry mused at the sight of the old, copperplate book cover that was decorated with an ancient design. The background was green, and golden symbols decorated the four corners. '_They're all different. I wonder if they have any meaning_,' Harry mused as he tried to figure out what the animals were that were playing in the middle of the front cover. '_Wait_,' he thought in disbelief, '_they're moving_!'

Completely forgetting his surroundings, Harry hesitantly opened the interesting book. However, the first page was written in some kind of old letters, which Harry couldn't read. '_Strange_,' he thought and carefully turned the pages until he came to a page, on which he saw a drawing. '_I wonder if that moves as well_,' he mused and hesitantly moved his small thumb over the picture.

Before he could realise what was happening, a small whirlwind began whipping gently around him. It became stronger and stronger, and Harry couldn't see anything, until it calmed down again. He curiously looked around, noticing that the bookshop, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were gone. Instead, he found himself just in front of the exact scenery the drawing in the book showed.

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tbc...

_**You can find a story graphic and some more content information on my Yahoo newsgroup page.** _

_Beta-ed by my brilliant beta Mushcorn - thank you, Mushcorn!!_

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	2. A Baby's Voice

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

_A.N. Since many readers complained when I let the Founders speak in old English in 'Harry and the Founding of Happiness', everyone will generally speak modern English in this story. There might be up to five single words that I might use out of the situation, but they will be explained to my new readers, and everyone else knows them from the Founding of Happiness._

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2 - A Baby's Voice

Glancing around with interest, Harry mused, '_Where am I?_' He found himself on a small, snowy street with houses on both sides of the street. There weren't any cars to be seen or heard, and several children were playing in the middle of the street. '_Everything looks so different here_,' he thought, noticing that the houses were much smaller than the buildings in Little Whinging and were built from wood or large, irregular stones.

Suddenly, a girl, who seemed to be about the same age as Harry, came over to him. "Hello," she said friendly. "Who are you, and why are you wearing those strange clothes?"

Harry shyly looked at the girl, noticing that she and the other children, who were slowly coming nearer, were wearing long coats, and even the boys were wearing skirts under their coats. "Hello. I'm Harry," he said shyly, quickly sliding the book into the pocket of his jacket. "I have no idea how I ended up here."

"I'm Ceridwen Hufflepuff, and I'm six," the girl replied, smiling, and Harry noticed that she had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen before. Ceridwen had light blue eyes that were twinkling with joy and were surrounded by dark brown hair. She gently introduced her friends, before she realised that Harry was shivering in his jeans and jacket. "Harry, you're cold, aren't you? Let me take you home and ask my Mum for something to wear for you. Or maybe she can cast a warming charm on you. She's a Healer," Ceridwen explained proudly and waved at her friends. "We'll see you later on."

Before Harry could process what was happening, the girl was pulling him along the street towards a very cosy looking little house. "Mummy! Daddy! Helga!" she shouted, causing her mother, a plump middle aged woman with the same bright smile as Ceridwen's, to appear at the entrance door.

"What happened, Ceridwen? Oh, you brought a visitor," she said in surprise and extended her hand to Harry. "Hello, I am Ceridwen's mother, Heather Hufflepuff. I don't recall having seen you around before, has your family just arrived here?"

"Hello Mrs. Hufflepuff," Harry said shyly. "I'm sorry; I'm not exactly sure how I managed to get here. Where are we?"

"We're in Hogsmeade, the only wizarding village in Britain," Heather explained gently. "Come in, sweetie; you must be freezing without a proper cloak."

Seeing that Ceridwen took her shoes and her coat off, Harry followed her example, before he pulled the book out of his pocket and entered a very comfortable looking room behind Ceridwen and her mother. It seemed to be the kitchen and the living room combination. A middle aged man, who sported a neatly trimmed beard, and a young woman that resembled Ceridwen and her mother a great deal, except for her slightly red hair, were sitting around a wooden table in front of the fireplace.

"This is my husband Heath and my daughter Helga," Heather explained softly, motioning Harry to sit on the seat next to her own, while her family members threw Harry inviting smiles.

"I am Harry," he said as he hesitantly took the offered seat. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"Now now, sweetie; you're not disturbing us at all," Helga said soothingly, causing Harry to throw the kind young lady a grateful smile.

Harry unsurely laid the book on the table in front of him and explained how he had been in a bookshop with his aunt and cousin and had found the book. "I couldn't read anything, because it was written in strange letters or symbols I don't understand, but on the second page, I found a picture, and when I touched it to see if it moved like the animals on the cover, I ended up here. Out on the street it looked just like the picture."

"Show me the book," Heath said in a deep voice, slowly extending his hand.

"Dad, be careful not to touch any pictures. We wouldn't want you to be taken anywhere else. Harry must come from far away, considering how strange his English is," Helga admonished him, sounding very worried.

"Yeah, Daddy, be careful," Ceridwen agreed with her big sister.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Heath promised and cautiously opened the book.

The others observed how he stared at the first page in disbelief. "Harry, in which year are you born?"

"1980," Harry replied in surprise. "Why?"

"1980!" Heather and Helga shouted simultaneously, eyeing Harry in disbelief.

"Excuse me, but...?" he stammered in a hardly audible voice, anxiously averting his eyes to the wooden floor.

"Harry, everything is all right, sweetie," Heather said soothingly, gently patting his left arm. "It's just that the date here is the twentieth of December, 956. You travelled more than one thousand years into the past."

"I... WHAT?" Harry asked incredulously. "But how..."

"This book is an object that possesses a very strong magic," Heath said thoughtfully. "On the first page, it explains that this book is a self-updating and unique exemplar of a chronic of Britain's magical world from the founding of Hogsmeade onwards..."

"This village here is Hogsmeade, and it was founded by Hengist of Woodcroft about thirty years ago," Helga quickly interrupted her father.

"There is also a warning, which says not to touch the pictures; otherwise, the book will take you to the scene you just touched," Heath continued his explanation. "The picture that obviously brought you here is attached to a text about the founding of Hogsmeade as the first magical village in Britain."

"Magical?" Harry asked frightened. "There is no such a thing as magic. At least, that's what my relatives have always told me," he added in a small voice, realising that everyone was looking at him.

"Of course there is magic, Harry," Heather explained softly. "It was magic that allowed you to come here, and you're a wizard."

"I?" Harry asked, terrified. '_I'm a freak, I know that, but I can't be a... wizard_,' he thought incredulously. "That must be some mistake, Madam. I can't be a wizard," he said hesitantly, causing the others to laugh.

"Of course you are, Harry," Helga said softly. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to make the book bring you here. You needed your own magic to initiate the book's magic, right Dad?"

"Yes my dear," Heath confirmed, smiling. "This book is very interesting. According to the explanation on the first page, you can even create your own pages in case you want to travel to a specific time or place not covered in the book. With that, you'll even be able to travel back to the future, if that's what you really want."

'_I don't think I want to go back_,' Harry thought. '_Everyone is so friendly here, and I really like this family. On the other hand, they'll throw me out as soon as they notice what a freak and a burden I am_.'

"If you touch a picture and at the same time think of a specific date, the book will take you to that exact date," Heath continued to read from the book.

"Harry, don't go back. Stay here with me," Ceridwen suddenly spoke up. "I always wanted to have a brother or a bestest friend, and I like you. Since Helga is going to move to the new castle sometime, I'd really love you to stay here."

Harry felt very happy at the girl's kind words. "I'd love to stay, but I don't want to be a burden to your parents," he said in a barely audible voice, unconsciously playing with a loose thread at the bottom of his jumper.

"Harry, you won't be a burden to us and you're very welcome to stay," Heather said softly. "However, won't your family be very concerned about your disappearance? They have no idea where you went and will be beside themselves with worry."

"No." Harry shook his head. "My parents are dead, and my relatives, who I'm living with, hate me," he explained sadly. "They'll be glad that I'm gone."

"Oh my poor sweetie," Heather cooed as she stood up and pulled Harry in a bear hug. "In that case and if you're really sure that you want to stay here, you may live with us. Our home is small, but we'll surely find some space for you."

"Really?" Harry asked in disbelief. '_They're willing to take me in_,' he thought, unable to believe his luck.

"Of course, sweetie; if that's what you want," Heather said gently, causing the others to nod their heads in agreement.

"Harry, if you stay here, we can attend Hogwarts together," Ceridwen shouted in absolute excitement, causing Harry to throw her a questioning look.

Helga laughed and explained, "My three best friends and I are building a magical school just outside of the village. Actually, it's really tough work, because we're building a huge castle. It needs thick walls, and we're proceeding quite slowly, because it affords a lot of magic, but we hope to be done in about a year's time. Then we're going to teach magical students from the age of eleven onwards. Oh well, considering that Ceridwen can't wait to enter Hogwarts, we might consider making an exception and allow her in at the age of eight. Of course you'll be granted the same privileges," she added, smiling at Harry.

"Wow, a magical school, and you're building it by yourselves?" Harry said in amazement. "Is there anything I could do to help with your work?"

Helga laughed. "Ceridwen always wants to help, too; however, it affords a lot of magic. You may help, provided that you let Mum or me check on you beforehand. We don't want you to collapse because you have depleted your magic."

"All right," Harry said softly, having no idea what Helga was talking about.

"Do you want to go for a small trip to the castle, Helga?" her mother asked gently. "If so, you should go right away. It's going to get dark in two hours at the latest."

"Oh, all right," Helga decided, knowing that her mother didn't want her to take the children up to the castle in the dark because the animals, who lived in the forest, could be very dangerous. "Harry, let me quickly cast a diagnostic spell on you. All right?"

"Okay," Harry replied anxiously, glancing at Heather.

"It's all right, sweetie. Helga has been my apprentice for years, and she is as good a Healer as I am. She won't hurt you," Heather said soothingly, causing Harry to relax.

Helga quickly waved her hand over Harry and frowned, muttering to herself. "Mum, he is all right, and his magic is extremely strong for his age, but I don't think his relatives treated him very well. It looks as if he has several injuries that remained untreated and aren't properly healed yet."

Heather turned to Harry, noticing that he was very frightened. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Harry replied uncertainly.

"In that case, leave it for the moment, Helga," Heather decided. "We can still think about these injuries at a later time, considering that they don't seem to currently be bothering Harry. Now, bring me the clothes you were wearing earlier, Harry."

Harry obediently fetched his jacket and handed it to Heather. "Hmm, that's what clothes one thousand years into the future look like," she stated, smiling as she waved her hand over the jacket, causing it to turn into a winter cloak like those the other children had been wearing earlier. "That's a robe, sweetie. All wizards wear robes, and it should be much warmer than your old one."

"Thank you so much," Harry said gratefully, admiring his new robe that held a beautiful green colour that matched his eyes exactly. "This is very pretty."

"You're welcome, Harry. Now, try it on, so we can see if it fits."

Harry obeyed, and Heather once more waved her hand, causing the robe to shrink until it fit him perfectly. '_Wow, magic is absolutely cool_,' Harry thought in amazement.

"All right then; Ceridwen, Harry, shall we go?" Helga asked, and the three excitedly left the living room, pulled their robes over and headed into the snow. "Are you warm enough?" Helga asked gently, causing Harry to throw her a huge smile.

"I've never felt so happy and warm. Thank you," he replied gratefully. "It's amazing. This is one thousand years into the past. So I suppose you don't have cars yet? That's why children can play on the street. I like that," he said in a small voice, looking around with a great deal of interest and amazement of the differences from his own time.

"You'll have to tell us a lot about the future, Harry. I already know that my friends will be very interested in your stories," Helga replied, before she warned him, "Harry, this might feel a bit strange for an instant; we're going to pass the wards."

'_Thank God she warned me_,' Harry thought as he felt a bout of magic flash through his body. "Uh, wow, that felt very tingly," he said in surprise. "What was that?"

"That was the wards we built up around the castle. They make sure that Muggles, non magical people," she added after seeing Harry's confused expression, "can't see the castle, and they prevent unauthorised persons from entering the grounds. The wards only allowed you in, because you were with me. Now they have registered your magical signature, and from now on you'll be able to enter the grounds even if I'm not with you."

Harry didn't understand everything of the explanation; however, he was glad that he had been allowed inside the wards and looked at the pieces and bits of wall in front of him with interest.

"Harry, you must not go into the forest. There are many magical and non magical animals in the forest, and some of them are very dangerous. You may only enter the forest, if an adult is with you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand," Harry said firmly, making a mental note to never ever set a foot into the forest without an adult. However, the forest somehow seemed to be very intriguing, and he couldn't take his eyes off of the front row of trees, hoping to see one or more of the magical animals that made the forest their home.

Quicker than expected, they reached the outer walls of the castle that so far consisted of two large towers and a whole lot of lower walls. '_Wow, these walls are as thick as my cupboard was long_,' Harry mused, looking at the huge stones with interest. "These walls are so thick," he said in amazement, causing Helga to chuckle.

"Well, they're going to be the part of the foundation and base walls of a huge castle that is supposed to accommodate a school full of children. The walls have to be thick," she explained, motioning Harry to place his right hand on the wall. "You can talk to the castle by the way. She is called Hogwarts, and you'll be able to speak with her if you put your hand on the wall. Just tell her who you are and that you're going to help build her with your magic, and she'll recognise you in the future."

"That's true, Harry," Ceridwen threw in. "I've been talking to her from time to time. She's very funny, although she's still a baby!"

Harry smiled and hesitantly placed his right hand on the stone that felt very warm in spite of the fact that it was extremely cold out, now that the sun was just about to set. "Hello Hogwarts," he said softly. "I'm Harry, and I'll try to help Helga and her friends build you. How come that you're so warm, although it's so cold here?"

The wall remained quiet for an instant, and Harry was just about to pull his hand away in disappointment, when a female, childish voice penetrated his ears. "Hello Hawwy. Fanku fow coming to help de Founders. It's wawm because I'm made of mashic and lobe. The combination of mashic and lobe keeps me wawm."

"You sound very young," Harry said, smiling, noticing that the castle's voice sounded like that of a very small child.

"I'm fibe momfs old," Hogwarts replied in her high, childish voice. "And you?"

"I'm six years old," Harry replied. '_She is very cute_,' he thought and was just about to ask another question, when a deep voice from behind caused him to flinch back badly and hurriedly pull his hand away.

"Harry Potter," the voice hissed in a menacing tone. "What do you think you're doing here?"

Harry quickly tried to hide behind Helga, throwing the man that was towering in front of them an anxious look.

"I... I came here with a book and then Helga brought me here and told me I could help build the castle," he stammered, noticing terrified that several other men, who were all wearing similar black robes, appeared from behind the man with the evil look on his face. '_What's wrong?_' he mused. '_Who are they, and how do they know who I am?_' he thought, suddenly realising that it was strange that they knew his name. '_I didn't tell anyone my last name_,' he remembered, '_not even the Hufflepuffs_.'

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tbc…

You can find a story graphic on my Yahoo newsgroup page!

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. My muse appreciates them very much!_

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	3. Digging the Dungeons

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**3 – Digging the Dungeons**

"Oh Salazar, Godric, don't frighten the Lytling (child) like that. You're impossible," Helga said in a firm voice, shaking her head in annoyance, before she turned to Harry. "These are my friends Salazar and Godric," she pointed to two of the men, "and the others are their brothers."

Harry inwardly sighed in relief as he slowly relaxed. He had been very frightened at the men's sight. "But how do they know my name?" he suddenly remembered.

"That's because the wards have told us that someone with your name entered the Hogwarts grounds and that you have been keyed into them," the man called Godric replied in a gentle voice. "Sorry for frightening you, little one."

"Very well then, shall we begin to work?" Salazar spoke up. "Did you come to work as well, Thunderbolt?" he asked Harry. "Or did you merely come to gawk?"

Harry was glad that Ceridwen asked immediately, "Thunderbolt?"

"Did you not see the scar on his forehead? It looks like a thunderbolt! And you claim to be the sister and daughter of Healers?" Salazar scoffed, turning back to Harry. "Thunderbolt, come along with me and you can help me make a few rooms in the dungeons."

"All right," Harry replied anxiously. On one hand, he was a bit frightened of the tall man; however, on the other hand he was eager to do something. He would feel safer if he was allowed to work, because he was used to doing chores at home. "I like the castle, and I'd love to help building her," he said hesitantly and hurried to follow Salazar through what seemed destined to become the entrance to the castle later on. He noticed quickly that he had to hurry in order to keep up with the man, who strode ahead in a fast pace. '_It's funny how his robes billow behind him_,' Harry thought in amusement when he, to his huge surprise, noticed a path leading down to an underground area.

"These are going to be the dungeons," Salazar explained, and Harry noticed in relief that he sounded much nicer than before.

"Excuse me, sir, but what are the dungeons?" he asked in a small voice.

"The dungeons are where my House is going to be. I don't know how much Helga has told you, but we're four friends building this castle together, and all of us are going to become the teachers here. We haven't yet decided how to divide the students among the four of us, but we're probably going to have four Houses, because the students will need someone to be responsible for them outside of classes. Anyway, my House will be here in the dungeons. We need dormitories as well as a common room for the students, and I need to have my quarters here as well as an office and a classroom. Maybe even another room, which I can use as storage room for the ingredients," he added thoughtfully.

"Ingredients, sir?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Yes Thunderbolt; I'm going to teach Potions." Seeing that there was no sign of understanding in Harry's expression, he explained, "Potions are mainly used to heal illnesses, but you can also do many other things with them such as pranking your friends."

Harry looked at the tall man in amazement. '_That sounds so interesting_,' he mused. '_I hope I'll be able to stay here forever_.' By now they had reached the end of the small corridor, and Harry threw Salazar a questioning look. The Founder pulled a small parchment out of his robe pocket that turned out to be a map, showing many thin corridors as well as a few larger openings that seemed to be intended as rooms. '_The Dungeons_' was written on top of the map. He pointed to a small green symbol.

"Now this is where we are now," Salazar explained. "I intend to make a few more small corridors in the direction of the lake here. I thought it might be funny to have the common room under the lake. What do you think, Thunderbolt?"

Harry looked thoughtfully at the map. "I think that's a funny idea, sir. What about the dormitories? Will they be under the lake, too? Or would it be possible to make them right next to the lake and have one side like a window facing into the lake?"

"That's a very good idea, Thunderbolt! Let's go on with this corridor first then." He pointed to a small line on the parchment. "Fodio Recte," he said, waving his hand at the ground in front of them, and Harry watched in amazement as the corridor began to continue straight on. "Do you want to try? It affords quite some magic though, and we need to be careful that you don't deplete your magic," Salazar said firmly.

"I'd love to try, but how..." Harry unsurely trailed off.

Salazar smirked. "Just wave your hand like this," he explained, carefully leading Harry's hand through the movement, "and say, 'Fodio Recte.' It's a very simple spell in Latin and means to dig straight on."

Harry carefully waved his hand at the ground in front of them. "Fodio recte."

"Well done Thunderbolt," Salazar commended him as the corridor continued. "Now we need to turn right. The correct spells to make curves are 'Fodio deverti ad sinistram' to turn left and 'Fodio deverti dextrorsum' to turn right." Seeing that Harry's expression turned into confusion he sighed. "They're long, I know. You see, Rowena is our brain. Normally, she invents new short spells from the long Latin expressions. However, recently she hasn't been able to because she has had so many visions that she became sick from them and is inventing something in order to show us her visions. Anyway, we have to use the long spells for the time being."

"All right," Harry said, smiling.

Salazar and Harry continued to make their path in the direction of the lake. After nearly an hour, Salazar showed Harry the map, on which the small green point had moved about half-way to the lake. "Very well then, from now on we have to dig deeper in order to end up under the lake. Our spell to use is 'Fodio recte descendo'. Would you like to try?"

Harry waved his hand, and the corridor obediently continued downwards. By the time Salazar told him that they had reached the lake, Harry couldn't prevent himself from letting out a huge yawn. "You look tired, Thunderbolt. I believe it's time to head back," Salazar said firmly. "It's probably beyond your bedtime, and you did use a lot of magic tonight."

Salazar waved his hand at the wall to their right side and mumbled an incantation that caused a wooden door to appear in the wall. As Salazar continued to cast spells, a staircase appeared behind the door that led them upstairs and finally ended out on the grounds, right next to the lake. They stepped out, and Salazar once more waved his hand, causing a trapdoor to appear in the grass, covering the top of the staircase. With another flick of his hand, the trapdoor was covered with grass, so that no one, who didn't know about it, would be able to see it.

"Wow, that was absolutely cool," Harry said in amazement, causing Salazar to smirk.

"Just so you know, Thunderbolt, I sealed the trapdoor with a password. It's 'Descendio Carceris', and to come up here from the dungeons it's 'Ascendio Lacii'. The door in the dungeons is a hidden door as well. To everyone but the two of us it'll look like a normal wall."

"Thank you so much for letting me in on your secret," Harry said happily, and a huge smile began to spread over his face.

"Well, you helped me, didn't you? Will you come back tomorrow to help me build the common room?"

"I'd love to come. However, I'm living with Helga's and Ceridwen's family."

"Don't worry. Helga comes here every evening, just like all of us. However, normally no one wants to help in the dungeons. They all prefer building walls and towers instead of digging into the ground."

Harry chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll help you, sir. I don't mind digging, and I look forward to making the dormitories right next to the lake, although I can understand the others too. Baby Hogwarts is so cute, and it must be fun to work with her walls."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

"Harry!" suddenly Ceridwen's voice penetrated his ear, and he saw the others standing in front of the castle's entrance.

Salazar and Harry hurried back to the group, and Harry noticed that everyone seemed to be very excited and contented with their evening's work.

"We should head home," Helga said, worriedly looking up at the sky that was already completely dark. "I'll be in so much trouble with Mum. She doesn't want me to have the little ones here after dark."

"Well, tell her that we were all with you," Godric said firmly. "How is Rowena by the way?"

Helga sighed. "She has been very sick today. I spent quite a bit of time with her this morning, and she had the same symptoms as if she had the stomach flu, but it's only due to her visions, which seem to have become increasingly recently. Horrible things must be going to happen in the future. Anyway, I told her to rest and forbade her to come here tonight."

"I hope she'll be all right," Godric said in concern.

"She'll surely be. She said she got on well with her new invention and would be able to show us her memories soon."

"I could always use Legilimency on her," Salazar offered, causing Helga to glare at him.

"You can't do that, because she's running a fever. The visions are already making her really sick. I don't know why it has become so bad recently. These two weeks have been extremely awful for her. Normally, she has to deal with about one vision a week, but she told me she has had to watch at least five a night recently."

"I'll go and visit her. Maybe I can help her with the Pensieve," Godric said.

"I think that's a very good idea," Helga agreed, smiling, and everyone began to walk back towards Hogsmeade.

Harry, who felt very tired, was glad that Ceridwen kept him entertained by her stories of how she had spent the evening helping her sister to make the Hufflepuff common room. By the time they reached home, a huge pot with stew was waiting on the table in the living room. Although the meal was delicious, Harry could only stomach a little bit, since he wasn't used being able to eat much at the Dursleys'. Seeing that he was nearly falling asleep over his plate, Heather motioned him to come with her.

"Let me take you to bed, sweetie; you look dead on your feet. Did you use much magic?"

"I don't know," Harry replied sleepily. "I never used magic before, but it worked and it was so much fun. I'm sorry to be so much trouble."

"You're no trouble at all, sweetie," Heather said softly and made him use the bathroom, before she led him into the bedroom that held a double bed at the far end and a normal bed as well as a bunk bed on the other side. "Heath just invented that bed for you and Ceridwen, because we don't have space for an extra bed on the floor, so he thought it would work to have two of them stacked on top of one another," Heather explained. "Would you prefer to sleep on the bottom bed or the top?"

"I'd prefer this one," Harry replied, pointing to the lower bed, "if Ceridwen is all right with the top one."

Heather laughed. "Ceridwen will love it. She'll think it's great fun." She pulled a white night robe out of a cupboard and waved her hand at it, changing the girlish pattern to a design of roaring dragons. "Here sweetie, change into your night robe and get into bed please. I'll be back in a few minutes to tuck you in."

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully and hurriedly got ready for bed, frowning at the fact that he had to wear a night robe like a girl. '_Maybe in this time everyone wears them_,' a small voice at the back of his head told him, causing him to calm down.

By the time Heather returned, he was nearly half asleep, and his clothes were properly folded on the chair next to his bed. "Good night, sweetie," Heather said softly, placing a kiss on his forehead. "I'm glad we have you here."

"Night; I'm glad too, thank you," Harry mumbled, already drifting off to sleep with a small smile playing on his lips.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

In the morning, Harry woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. "Good morning, lazybones; it's time to get up," he heard a voice shouting and hesitantly opening his eyes, seeing Ceridwen's smiling face right in front of his own.

"Okay, I'm sorry for sleeping so long," he mumbled and quickly scrambled out of bed as soon as Ceridwen gave him enough space to move.

"You don't have to be sorry at all, Harry," Helga said in a soft voice.

Only now did Harry notice that she was sitting on the edge of the other bed and quickly said good morning.

"Ceridwen is only excited, because she intends to drag you with her to her classes this morning."

"Classes?" Harry asked in confusion. '_I didn't know that they already had schools in this time. Well, apart from Hogwarts, but that's not finished yet_.'

Helga smiled. "As you might have noticed, Hogsmeade is a small town. All the kids here go to several houses in the mornings to learn special things. My mother and my friends' mothers are teaching the children here. Mrs. Gryffindor teaches reading, Mrs. Slytherin Math, my mother teaches them about wizarding etiquette, herbs and health, and Mrs. Ravenclaw, my friend Rowena's mother, teaches easy Runes. The children go to the teachers' houses in two groups, according to their ages, and since you're of the same age as Ceridwen, the two of you can go together. Now, I'll leave you in peace, so you can get dressed and come to the fireplace room for breakfast."

When Harry entered the living room, Heath was just about to leave. "I'm sorry, little one, but I have to go to work," he said softly, playfully ruffling Harry's hair.

"Heath is working as a magical architect," Heather explained in her soft voice. "Come here, Harry, and eat your breakfast. You and Ceridwen need to leave for Mrs. Ravenclaw's place in twenty minutes. Helga, are you going accompany me today, or what are your plans?"

Helga sighed. "If you're very busy, I'll come with you of course, but if you don't have too many patients, I'd like to spend the morning with Rowena. I'm a bit concerned about her, because she's not dealing with the onslaught of the visions she had been having. I'll be back before the children come here for their classes of course."

Harry ate a few bites of his breakfast, regretting that he felt full so soon, although the meal was absolutely delicious. '_I don't know what it is, but I like it_,' he thought happily, munching on his spoonful of oatmeal and fruits with milk.

"Is everything all right, sweetie?" Heather asked in concern. "You're not used to eating much, are you? Did your relatives feed you at all?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, yes, but not so much and not so often," he replied in a small voice. "I'm very happy to be here. Thank you so much for taking me in. I love being here." Turning to Helga he asked hesitantly, "Will we go back to the castle tonight?"

Everyone laughed. "Did you have fun with Salazar?" Helga asked, smirking.

"Yes, it was so cool. We built corridors through the dungeons, and tonight we're going to make a common room under the lake," Harry explained in excitement, causing Helga and her mother to smile.

"Finished, Harry? Let's go to Mrs. Ravenclaw then. She's teaching us Runes," Ceridwen shouted happily, jumping up from her seat.

"Runes?" Harry queried.

"Yes, it's much fun. We get to draw pictures and everything. You'll love it," Ceridwen said eagerly, and Harry felt her enthusiasm cause him to become excited as well.

"All right then, let's go," he agreed and, following Ceridwen's example, pulled his new robes and his shoes on, enduring that Heather kissed both of them and made sure they were properly dressed so that they wouldn't get cold.

"Be careful, sweeties," Heather advised them gently. "It's very cold outside, and it has snowed a lot during the night. I was even called away in the middle of the night because someone slipped in the snow and broke his ankle."

"We'll be careful," Ceridwen and Harry promised and hurriedly stepped out into the snow.

"I'll come with you," Helga announced and followed them across the street to a small stone house that looked very much like the Hufflepuffs' house.

The other four children of Ceridwen's and Harry's class were already waiting for them in front of the Ravenclaws' house, and Ceridwen happily introduced Harry to them, before Helga knocked on the door and led the group into the house.

"Good morning, Mrs. Ravenclaw, hello Rowena," she said in her soft voice, while all the children except for Ceridwen and Harry stormed into the room and made themselves comfortable around the table. "I'd like to introduce someone to you. This is Harry, my parents' new foster son. He is the same age as Ceridwen, and he'll be attending classes along with her." Pulling Harry into her arm, she said, "This is my best friend, Rowena, and her mother, Mrs. Ravenclaw."

"Hello Harry and welcome to Hogsmeade," Mrs. Ravenclaw said gently.

"Thank you, Madame," Harry said to the older woman, who had long black her and remarkable green eyes similar to his own. '_She is beautiful_,' he thought and threw a curious look at Rowena, who fainted the moment Harry turned to look at her.

_

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tbc…

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much!_

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	4. The Tripping Staircases

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**4 – The Tripping Staircases**

"Rowena!" Helga and Mrs. Ravenclaw shouted at the same time and hurried to the young woman's side, causing Harry to look upon the scene in shock. '_Did she faint because of me?_' he wondered, horrified at the thought of it occurring because of him. "She'll be all right," Helga said soothingly after waving her hand over her friend a few times. "I'm going to take her back into the bed room, and I'll stay with her for a while."

"All right Helga, thank you," Mrs. Ravenclaw said gratefully, giving Harry a thoughtful look.

"I'm sorry," Harry said uncomfortably, shyly averting his eyes to the floor.

"There is nothing you have to be sorry for, Lufu (love)," Mrs. Ravenclaw said gently. "Rowena is ill, but it's not your fault. Now, take a seat at the table, so that we can begin with today's lesson."

'_It's still strange that she just collapsed as she looked at me_,' Harry mused as he hurriedly obeyed and looked in amazement at the parchments Mrs. Ravenclaw spread over the table. Each of the parchments had old runes, and Harry noticed with interest that many of them seemed to contain pictures. The teacher made each of them read one line of runes, and Harry listened in awe, realising that a whole story was being told through the runes on each of the parchments. At the end of the class, Mrs. Ravenclaw handed each of them a parchment and instructed them to copy the runes on their own parchments and practise reading them.

"I think this is the easiest one," the woman said gently, handing Harry a parchment, on which most of the runes contained little pictures. "You need to practise a bit in order to catch up with the others, but since you have Ceridwen with you, I'm sure you won't have any problems catching up with the others."

Harry thanked her profusely and happily trailed behind the others through the snow as they walked over to the Gryffindors' house for their Reading class.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the children's runes class, Helga levitated Rowena into the Ravenclaws' bedroom and waved her hand over her friend, casting the _Enervate_ spell, which caused Rowena to slowly open her eyes.

"The boy," Rowena whispered, looking around frantically, "it's the boy."

"Does he appear in your visions?" Helga queried gently, lightly touching her friend's forehead with her index finger to check her temperature.

"Yes," Rowena said thoughtfully. "He is not the bad one though. He's the one fighting all the bad men. The poor child. But that can't be. I thought my visions were pointing to events far in the future. I don't know anymore. Helga, I feel so sick. Can you do anything to prevent me from getting these visions?"

"I'm so sorry, Rowena. Unfortunately, I can't do anything to prevent your visions. I can only help you feel better afterwards, and I brewed two potions for you, one for the nausea and one for the headache." She handed her friend two phials, instructing her to gulp them down straight away.

Rowena sighed in relief as she felt the potions take effect. "The boy, where did he come from? I've never seen him around before," she queried.

Helga sighed and explained, "Harry came from one thousand years into the future. He found a book that apparently has the ability to take him through time. He only arrived here yesterday, and my parents took him in, because he said he wanted to stay here instead of going back to the future, since his life in the future wasn't very good."

"He is my many times great grandson," Rowena mumbled. "I need to advise him what to do in a few years' time. We have to change everything." With that she slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

'_That's why she has been having so many visions recently_,' Helga mused, observing her friend in concern. '_It's because they all involve Harry. She must have been sensing that Harry was going to come here. I have to ask Godric concerning the device he was going to help her invent, so she can show us the memories. She should be able to get rid of the visions at the same time. I'll also speak with Salazar. Perhaps he can develop a potion that'll keep her from getting these visions,_' she resolved. Knowing that her friend would probably sleep for a while, she quietly left the room and exchanged a few words with Rowena's mother, before she returned home. Helga arrived just as the children came from their Reading class.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

The week before the Christmas holidays, Harry enjoyed himself very much. While he was behind the other children in most of his classes, he was very advanced in Math. However, his foster parents and sister soon noticed that he loved to read and very eagerly learned the letters that were used in their time. His favourite class was Runes though, and Harry absolutely loved to copy and trying to decipher the old runes.

For Christmas, Harry received a small booklet, hand written by Helga, '_The Magical World at the Time of the Founding of Hogsmeade_.' Helga had compiled it especially for Harry, and it explained about the magical world at their current time. He also received a small pile of parchments and a quill. '_Why does Father Christmas all of a sudden bring presents for me?_' Harry marvelled. So far, he had never received a present for Christmas, apparently because he hadn't been a good boy. '_Am I better here in the past?_' he wondered, unaware of the concerned looks he received from his foster family.

"If you ask me, Harry never received a Christmas present before," Heather said to Helga, while they waited for Ceridwen and Harry to get into their beds late on Christmas day.

"I believe that you are correct in that assumption," Helga said thoughtfully. "I also believe that they didn't only neglect, but also abuse him. Did you notice that he flinches badly if you try to touch him?"

"I noticed that as well," Heather replied, sighing, "although I have the impression it is slowly getting better, even if it's only been a bit more than a week since he arrived here."

"We're in bed! Come!" Ceridwen's voice pulled the two witches out of their conversation, causing them to smile, knowing that Ceridwen was absolutely delighted to have Harry living with them.

"I think they're both very good for each other," Helga chuckled as she followed her mother into the bed room. '_Ceridwen needs something to occupy her overflowing energy, and Harry needs someone to cheer him up and give him more self-confidence_.'

"Thank you so much. It was the best Christmas I ever had," Harry said gratefully, trying hard not to flinch as Heather carefully pulled him in a very light hug.

"I'm glad you liked your Christmas day," Heather said gently. "Sleep well, Harry."

As Heather stood up to tuck Ceridwen in, Helga sat on the edge of Harry's bed. "Good night, Leofost (little one). Sleep well." In a smaller voice, she added, "I'm looking forward to hear what you'll think of my book. You're the first to read it, but if you like it, I might want to copy it for our library at Hogwarts. So please tell me if you find anything strange or badly explained. Salazar told me that you're full of good ideas and surprises."

A huge smile spread over Harry's face at the unexpected praise. "I'll tell you if I notice anything. Thank you so much for allowing me to read your book first," he said happily, before he hesitantly asked, "Could I perhaps stay up a bit longer and read it?"

"No sweetie; I'm sorry, but you need to sleep. It's already much later than your usual bed time," Helga said sternly, pressing a light kiss against his forehead. "Good night, Leofost. As soon as you're up in the morning, you may read if you want."

"Okay," Harry mumbled, tiredly closing his eyes.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the winter holidays, Helga, Godric, Salazar and their siblings spent most of their days at Hogwarts, continuing the construction of the castle. Harry consequently helped Salazar to make the dungeons. After constructing a huge common room under the lake with a low ceiling and a fireplace in the middle of the room, they made small staircases leading up to fourteen dormitories that were situated so that one wall could be used to utilise Harry's idea of making the walls into windows looking into the lake. "I'd love to sleep in such a dormitory and watch the fish swim by when I go to sleep," Harry mused aloud, causing Salazar to chuckle.

"You merely have to see that you end up in my House," he replied, smirking. "I'm not sure if there are fish in here though. I only know that there are many magical animals. So far, I've seen a Squid as well as lots of Grindylows and Mermaids. There might be fish of course. Maybe I will have my bedroom within the lake as well."

Harry threw him a surprised look. "Err... Salazar, aren't your quarters at the other side of the castle?" he asked incredulously.

"Well?" Salazar queried, raising an eyebrow at the boy. "Have you ever heard of magic? We can simply make a room here and connect the door in my quarters with the door of the bedroom here. That's easy to achieve."

"Are we going to decorate the rooms as well, or do you prefer to build all the other rooms in the dungeons first?" Harry asked, wondering what colours Salazar would want to decorate the dormitories.

"We're going to deal with the architectural work first," Salazar replied firmly. "However, we should set up torches on one side of the corridor, now that the main corridor is nearly finished."

"Oh cool; that'll be a lot of fun," Harry shouted in excitement. "What's the spell?"

Salazar smirked and taught him a spell. "However, I have to disappoint you, Thunderbolt. In order to place them in a regular distance, I'm just going to cast another spell that automatically makes them appear throughout the corridor at once," he explained and waved his wand, mumbling something that Harry couldn't understand. "I believe that's enough for today. Let's return to the entrance and see how the others are doing. Tomorrow, we'll try to build the Potions classroom."

"Wow, cool," Harry replied eagerly.

However, on the next day, Helga finally deemed Rowena well enough to accompany them to the castle, and since everyone had spent so much time working on their Houses during her absence, Helga, Godric and Salazar decided to help building the Ravenclaw tower that day. Harry was a bit disappointed, because he had been looking forward to constructing the Potions classroom, and he also felt very self-conscious as he remembered that Rowena had fainted the last time she had seen him.

"Is everything all right, Leofost?" Helga asked softly, noticing that Harry was unusually quiet.

"Yes, but will Rowena be all right with me being there?" he asked in a hardly audible voice.

"Of course, sweetie; that was not your fault; don't worry, you'll see Rowena is a very kind witch," Helga said soothingly, causing Harry to relax just a little bit.

Before Harry could further dwell on the matter, Godric called him over. "Leo, come and help me construct the huge staircase," he instructed him, causing Harry to hesitantly walk over to the man. He would have preferred working together with Salazar, since he was already used to him and knew that Salazar was very funny in spite of knowing exactly what he was doing.

Before everyone could get to work, Godric opened a huge map, similar to the one of the dungeons that Salazar owned. "We need to have seven floors on each side of the huge staircase, and we should have two staircases, one for each direction, just to be sure," he said thoughtfully. "We also need special staircases to places that aren't connected by corridors."

"But Rowena said Ravenclaw would be a tower," Ceridwen threw in. "How are we going to get onto a tower just with seven stairs?"

Everyone laughed, and Helga explained gently, "the fourteen staircases are going to become the castle's main staircase. We'll have additional stairs at each part of the castle. According to our planning, in the end we're going to have more than one hundred staircases. Godric was merely talking about the fourteen huge main staircases as well as additional staircases leading to special spots. There should be at least thirty of them I suppose."

While Helga and Ceridwen busied themselves with the connecting floors, Salazar and Rowena as well as Salazar's and Godric's brothers used their magic to pull Ravenclaw tower up to its intended height.

'_Building staircases seems very boring_,' Harry mused, feeling slightly disappointed. However, Godric surprised him greatly. When they had erected the outline of nearly fifty staircases, so that they merely had to fill them with steps, he spoke up, sounding very mischievous, "Listen Leo, we're going to play a few pranks on everyone."

"That sounds like fun," Harry replied, throwing him an expectant look. "Shouldn't we fill the staircases with steps though, so that you don't have to apparate both of us all the time? It would be easier if we could just climb up and down."

Godric chuckled, pointing to a staircase. "Of course we'll do that, but don't you think staircases are boring? Let's say this one will lead to that point over there on the weekend, while that one will go here in the meantime."

Harry giggled, groaning inwardly at the same time. '_I don't want to know what the others will say if he makes a mess out of the staircases_,' he mused, watching as Godric charmed the stairs. '_Thank God they're only relatively small staircases, so they probably won't lead to important spots_.'

"All right then, now this one," Godric chuckled, waving his hand at another small staircase, "will vanish halfway up, so that people have to remember to jump up or down before it vanishes."

Harry stared at the Founder in disbelief. "Wouldn't it be better to make single steps vanish instead of a whole staircase?"

"All right, but I'll tell you now, we'll do that on the main staircases," Godric chuckled and proceeded to instruct Harry how to make steps.

For the rest of the day, the two wizards were busy making steps, and Godric charmed at least one step on each staircase to vanish all of a sudden. '_Helga will be so angry_,' Harry mused, knowing that Helga was going to be the Healer of the school and would have to treat all the students, who got hurt by the strange steps.

However, it was Rowena, who told Godric off when it was Harry of all people, who tripped on the staircase as he tiredly climbed down. "Godric, this is meant to be a school," she told him angrily. "Yes, I know that the students will be a few years older than Harry. Nevertheless, they might be tired after doing magic and attending classes the whole day."

"I'm sorry," Godric replied, unable to hide a smirk. "Leo, are you all right?"

"Yes," Harry replied in a small voice, absently rubbing his leg that he had hurt as he stumbled over the vanishing step.

"Show me your leg," Helga demanded and turned into Healer's mode, quickly waving her hand over Harry's leg to cast a diagnostic spell, quickly followed by a Healing spell. "Better now?" she asked softly, giving Harry a sharp look.

"Yes, it's better now; thank you, Helga," Harry said gratefully as he carefully climbed down the remaining stairs.

"We'll make sure..."

"... to never send our children to your school," Godric's brothers joked on the way back to Hogsmeade, and Harry noticed that they were wearing the same mischievous expressions as Godric.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

The next day was New Year's day, and to Harry's disappointment they couldn't go to the castle until late in the afternoon. Godric and his brothers had to attend some kind of family event, Salazar had a hangover and had forgotten to brew himself a potion beforehand, and Rowena had spent a horrible night with visions of the future, probably triggered by meeting Harry the day before.

"I'm sorry, but I have to stay with Rowena until she feels better," Helga informed Ceridwen and Harry. "Maybe we can go to the castle later this afternoon. Why don't you read or paint for a while?"

"All right, come on, Harry, let's sit in front of the house and draw pictures of Hogsmeade," Ceridwen cheered, pulling her warm robes on.

As usual, Harry obeyed to the girl, and a few minutes later, the two six-year-olds were sitting on the street in front of the house, beginning to draw. '_It's cold, but it's nice to sit out here, now that it isn't snowy anymore_,' Harry mused, leaning back against the wall and relaxing as he felt the warm sunrays play on his cheeks.

Two hours later, Helga crossed the street to fetch a phial for Rowena. Seeing the two children sitting there, completely engrossed in their drawings, she quietly stood behind the two, careful not to disturb them. However, when she glanced at the pictures, her eyes widened in shock as she took in what Harry had drawn so far.

_

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tbc…

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much!_

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	5. Learning to Forget

**The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**5 – Learning to Forget**

While both children had apparently drawn the same scene of the houses on the other side of the street with the lake and the walls of the castle in the background, Ceridwen had managed to capture the scene just as it was, and Helga realised that her sister was very adept at drawing. However, in Harry's picture the houses were made of different material and had a slightly different style. What was bothering Helga most about Harry's drawing was the fact that Hogwarts was already complete and looked exactly like it was planned to look like once it was completed.

'_Don't let Harry be a Seer as well_,' Helga groaned inwardly and quickly hurried into the house, hoping that her mother was there, so that she could share her thoughts with her.

Heather listened patiently, before she thoughtfully replied, "If Harry is Rowena's heir like Rowena told you two weeks ago, he could have a bit of a Seer in him; however, it isn't necessarily as strong as with Rowena. Maybe he can see snap shots of things like Hogwarts at her completion or such, but I don't think we need to worry about anything more at this time. It could even be that he unconsciously remembers being at Hogwarts in the future. He told us that his parents died when he was a year old, didn't he? Maybe his parents took him to Hogwarts, and the memory is still somewhere hidden deep within his mind."

"That's true. Thank you, Mum." Helga sighed in relief and quickly gathered the phials she needed for Rowena.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Over the following weeks, Helga and Heather observed Harry closely. He seemed to like painting, but so far, he didn't show anymore Seer abilities, and as the months passed, the two Healers' concern slowly began to fade into non-existence. However, they all of a sudden noticed that Harry was suffering badly from different problems that were a direct result from his upbringing with his relatives.

Harry never made sounds during the night; however, one night when Helga checked on the children like she did every night before going to bed, she noticed that he was thrashing around violently and was completely entangled in his covers. '_Maybe he is sick_,' she thought in concern. Sitting on the edge of his bed, she carefully laid her hand on the child's forehead, causing Harry to flinch badly away from the touch. The boy soundlessly began to whimper and move his lips as if he was talking. However, no sound left his mouth. '_It's as if he was under a Silencing charm_,' Helga mused, and although this thought seemed to be very unrealistic, she waved her hand over the small boy anyways, whispering, "Finite Incantatem."

Instantly, Harry's whimpering could be heard, and he began to beg, "Please Uncle Vernon, don't hurt me. I promise to be good and to not do freaky things anymore. Please, don't..."

"Harry," Helga said softly, carefully laying her hand on his shoulder. "It's me, Helga. Wake up, sweetie; you're having a nightmare. Your uncle isn't here, and no one will harm you."

Harry slowly stirred under her soft touch and instantly began to panic. "I'm sorry. I'll be quiet now."

"Leofost," Helga sighed. "You don't have to be sorry, and you don't have to be quiet. I also want you to know that I don't want you to put a Silencing charm on yourself. I want to be able to hear when you're having a nightmare or are in distress. Don't do that again please."

Harry threw the woman, who had become his older sister, a confused look. "I'm sorry. What did I do?" he asked finally, causing Helga to slap her hand against her forehead.

"I'm sorry, Leofost; you're probably not aware of the fact, but you put a Silencing spell on yourself to prevent others from hearing you during the night. I understand now that you didn't do that intentionally. It's all right, Harry. Just remember that we want to hear if you're having problems, so that we can help you. All right?"

"Okay," Harry whispered, trying not to flinch back too badly as Helga proceeded to slowly wipe a few errand strands of hair from his cheeks.

'_I'm not a Healer for nothing_,' Helga thought as she unobtrusively cast a spell that would notify her immediately if Harry was under any kind of distress. "Will you tell me about your nightmare?" she asked kindly. "Was it about your uncle?"

"Yeah," Harry whispered miserably, still shaken by the nightmare. "I always had to be worse at school than Dudley in order not to anger my aunt and uncle, so I made many mistakes in my test. But the teacher scolded me for making so many mistakes. And suddenly, her hair turned blue, but it wasn't my fault. I didn't do anything. But she complained to my aunt and uncle, and my uncle..." He slowly trailed off, unsurely averting his eyes to his covers.

"He hurt you?" Helga quietly finished the unspoken thought, causing Harry to silently nod. "Harry, you're safe and sound here. No one will hurt you here, and you don't have to go back to your relatives if you don't want to. You may do as well in your classes as you can, and it doesn't matter at all if you're better or worse than Ceridwen. You know that, don't you?" Seeing Harry nod, she continued in her soft voice, "Each and every person has something he or she can do better than anyone else. While Ceridwen is very good at writing essays, I hear that you're excelling at Runes."

"I like runes," Harry said excitedly, and a small smile stole itself on his face. "I'd love to learn more about runes. Mrs. Ravenclaw said something about there being different kinds of runes, but she didn't explain it in much detail."

Helga smiled at the child. "Harry, for the other kids of your class, the normal runes are probably difficult enough, but if you're interested in learning more about runes, I'm sure Mrs. Ravenclaw would love to teach you. Rowena is very good at runes as well, and she'd also be willing to teach you. Shall I speak with them about it?"

Harry threw Helga a frightened look. "I'd love that, but I don't want to be a burden to them," he mumbled in a small voice, causing Helga to sigh.

"Harry, you're not a burden to anyone," Helga said firmly. "However, I suggest that we continue our conversation in the morning. You need to get some sleep."

"Okay," Harry agreed and slowly closed his eyes, feeling very reassured by Helga's kind words.

Helga remained on the edge of his bed, until she heard his breathing slowly even out. Then she once more returned to the living room to tell her parents about Harry's nightmare and her conversation with Harry.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Helga and Heather had a long conversation with Rowena and her mother, and the four witches agreed to wait until the summer, when Ceridwen and Harry would become seven, and then Helga would begin to give Ceridwen Healing classes, and Rowena would teach Harry Runes, in addition to their normal classes.

Over the following weeks, Harry often had nightmares and he still unconsciously applied Silencing charms to his bed, but the alarm Helga had placed on him alerted her anytime he was suffering from nightmares. Helga always woke him up and spoke with him, until he was calm enough to be able to drift back to sleep, and she noticed happily that the small boy became more confident each time she would awaken him from a nightmare. Helga and Heather, who were very concerned about the abuse and neglect that Harry had suffered at his relatives' house, sighed in relief that his nightmares slowly became fewer and that he gradually became used to being touched by either of them.

Harry happily accepted the fact that he was allowed and welcome to learn and read as much as he wanted. Ceridwen and Harry were both very diligent, and Harry caught up with the other pupils of their class quickly. They always finished their homework immediately after class and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the other children on the street, whenever the weather allowed it. Harry often sat aside from the group and painted his friends playing. To his foster family's relief, most of his pictures displayed current scenes. Only very seldom did he paint pictures displaying scenes that were obviously from the future.

After dinner, they continued to accompany Helga and her friends to Hogwarts, and the walls of the castle slowly became bigger, and Helga and Rowena observed contentedly how happy Harry seemed to be whenever he was allowed to help them build the castle.

However, many of the things Harry had heard and experienced at his relatives' home were still firmly present in his mind, and it was difficult to make him believe that he was being loved by his new family and that he wasn't a burden to anyone.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

One day, Harry woke up with a sore throat. '_Oh no_,' he thought, terrified. '_I hope that I won't get sick. Otherwise, they'll notice that I'm a burden, and they'll surely not want me anymore and me send me back to the Dursleys_.' He forced his breakfast down in order not to let his family know that he was feeling sick, and due to Ceridwen's excited talking about the potion Mrs. Slytherin had promised to teach them to brew that day, all the attention was drawn to her and no one realised that Harry was not exactly his usual cheery self that morning.

Unfortunately, during his runes class, his head began to hurt badly, and by the time they headed to Mrs. Slytherin's house, he felt very cold and dizzy and wished nothing more than to lie down and close his achy eyes.

Apparently noticing that Harry uncharacteristically stared into space, while his classmates were eagerly preparing their ingredients, Mrs. Slytherin quietly motioned for him to follow her into the living room. She made him sit down and gently laid a cool hand on his forehead, before she said softly, "Harry, you're ill. Go home and tell your Mum that I sent you. Do you want Ceridwen to accompany you?"

"No," Harry replied quickly as his aunt's words popped up in his head. '_I don't care if you're sick as long as you do your chores. But if you get Dudley sick, Vernon is going to deal with you_.' Harry still remembered well how his uncle dealt with him when Dudley showed first signs of Harry's illness.

Harry quietly left the Slytherins' house, but instead of heading home, he slowly walked to the castle, his aunt's words still echoing in his mind. He slowly trailed down the stairs towards the dungeons, thinking of the Slytherin dormitories, which Salazar and he had finished a few weeks ago. While he was holding on to the wall to wait for a bout of dizziness to pass, a soft voice penetrated his ears.

"Hello Harry, where are you going?"

It was a high, childish voice, which Harry recognised immediately. "You're Hogwarts, aren't you?" he asked hoarsely, only now realising that he was holding on to the wall. "You sound older than the last time."

"Yeah," the castle chuckled. "I'm not a baby anymore. I'm a big child now. What are you doing here at this time of the day and all on your own?"

"I just want to take a nap in one of the dormitories in the dungeons," Harry admitted in a small voice. "I don't feel so well today." Somehow, he felt comfortable enough to admit his problem to the castle.

"Don't worry," Hogwarts replied in her soft voice, "I'll keep you safe. I won't let anyone in, who doesn't belong here. Put your hand on me again when you reach the spot where you want to rest."

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully and slowly continued his walk to the dungeon dorms. When he reached the first dormitory, he hesitantly stepped inside and was just about to lie down in front of the window that looked out into the lake, when he remembered Hogwarts' instruction and put his hand on the nearby wall.

"Give me a second," the castle chuckled happily, and to Harry's surprise, something green emerged from the wall just above the floor.

Harry eyed the thing in confusion, before he realised that it was very soft stone that felt like a mattress like the one on his bed at home. It was large enough for him to comfortably lie down. "Thank you so much," he said gratefully, sighing in relief as his achy head hit the soft stone.

"You're welcome," the castle chuckled. "Now get some rest and feel better soon. That's the least I can do for you. You've been doing a great job building my walls and rooms so far. I'm very proud of you."

A small smile was playing on Harry's lips as he slowly drifted off to sleep, his right hand still touching the wall.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Helga and Heather were beside themselves with worry when Ceridwen returned home alone, telling them that Mrs. Slytherin had sent Harry home hours ago because he was sick. Helga talked to the parents of her friends, who had been teaching the children that morning, but everyone could only confirm that he had been unusually quiet that day, and no one had seen him after Mrs. Slytherin had sent him home.

"Maybe he went to Hogwarts," Heather suggested to Helga in a quiet voice. "His aunt probably didn't take it well when he was sick, and now he's hiding from us because he expects us to react in the same way."

"He should know better by now," Helga replied, sighing, although she had to admit that her mother was probably right. Together with Ceridwen, she hurried to the castle, knowing that the only way to find him if he was hiding inside was to ask Hogwarts if she had seen him.

Sensing that they didn't want to harm but only help the child, the castle gently led them to the Slytherin dormitories, where Harry was still peacefully asleep. He only woke up when he was safely tucked into his bed at home. During the next few days, Helga kept him in bed, and she and Heather took turns staying with him and looking after him. After hearing what his aunt had told him about being sick, they did their best to reassure him over and over that he wasn't a burden to them and that he had to tell them if he needed their help.

Over the following weeks, Heather and Helga observed contentedly that Harry seemed to slowly push all the thoughts of the Dursleys away. Only once in a while did the alarm spell alert Helga that he was in distress during the night, he became used to their kind touches and hugs and even began to timidly return them, and he sometimes even hesitantly told them when he didn't feel well or otherwise needed help.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

By the time the summer began, the walls of Hogwarts were nearly finished, and one day, Godric invited his friends as well as Ceridwen and Harry into the newly finished Headmaster's office. Harry slowly stood on the staircase, observing in amazement as it moved up to the office on its own accord. '_I prefer this to the pranking staircases_,' he mused as he entered the office behind Ceridwen and stopped dead in his tracks. '_This is fantastic_,' he thought, letting his eyes wandering around the round office in amazement that even intensified when Godric showed his friends several charms that were placed on his office, revealing hidden rooms and even corridors that lead all over the castle.

From then onwards, the friends began to make it a habit to meet in the Headmaster's office after working on the castle. Together, they had a cup of tea and explained to the others what they had been doing during the evening. One day, Godric turned to Harry.

"Leo, you still need to give us an explanation. Where do you come from? You arrived here all of a sudden out of nowhere."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him in curious expectation, Harry hesitantly began to tell the others about the book that had brought him one thousand years into the past.

"Nice story," Severus Slytherin, one of Salazar's brothers, sneered in apparent disbelief, causing Harry to shyly avert his eyes to the floor.

"Just so you know, Severus. Harry is not one to tell false stories. I've seen that book, and everything he said is absolutely true," Helga threw in, glaring at Salazar's brother.

"Really?" Godric asked in surprise. "You came from the future? Does Hogwarts still exist one thousand years in the future?"

"I don't know," Harry replied uncertainly. "I lived with my Muggle relatives."

"Don't tell us you're Muggle born," Severus sneered again, causing Salazar to throw his brother an angry look.

"Shut up, Sev. Whatever Harry is, he is extremely powerful in spite of his young age. Leave him alone, and forget your pureblood supremacy."

"Harry is my heir," Rowena threw in firmly, "Godric's and mine."

"Can you prove it?" Severus queried, raising an eyebrow at the Seer.

"Probably yes," Godric threw in and waved his hand over an empty parchment in a complicated movement, before he turned to Harry. "Now Leo, place your hand here," he instructed the boy, who hesitantly complied.

Instantly, thin lines began to appear on the parchment, reaching from their own time to the time in which Harry was born. The adults leaned over the map, following the lines with interest, until Godric blurted out, "Leo is indeed Rowena's and my heir. But what's that?" He pointed to another, fainter line in confusion, causing everyone to gasp.

_

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_

tbc…

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much!_

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	6. Getting Ready

******The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**6 – Getting Ready**

"He is somehow connected to me as well?" Severus Slytherin asked in disbelief. "But it's hardly visible anyway. What does that mean?"

"That's true," Godric said in confusion, while Rowena suddenly gripped her head in pain, before she relaxed and glared at the younger Slytherin.

"You'll know in time, Severus. I suggest that you behave towards Harry. By the way, Godric, now that your office is done, I expect you to help me with the Pensieve."

"We'll do that, Rowena, and there is also something else we need to do," Godric replied smirking.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

It still took a whole year of preparations, but during the summer when Ceridwen and Harry turned eight, the four Founders moved into the castle and eagerly readied Hogwarts and themselves for the first students that were going to arrive on the first of September.

One day, shortly before Harry's birthday, Ceridwen and Harry were sitting in front of their parents' house. Ceridwen was painting a picture, while Harry worked on a Runes essay for his private class with Mrs. Ravenclaw.

"Harry," Ceridwen asked suddenly, carefully as to not startle the boy. "You've been looking into space now for ages. Are you getting sick again, or are you all right?"

"Ah," Harry replied, startled. "I'm fine; it's just... Don't you miss Helga? I mean... I know that she has to stay at the castle when the students arrive, but still... Don't misunderstand me. You and your parents, you're a wonderful family, and I couldn't have wished for a better, but..."

"I understand, Harry. You're right," Ceridwen replied sadly. "I miss her terribly. If we could at least go to the castle in the evenings like we did before it was completed." The two children remained pensive for a while, before Ceridwen interrupted the quiet. "Should we ask Mum if we can go and visit Helga?"

"Do you think she'll let us go on our own?" Harry asked doubtfully but obediently collected his books and supplies he had been using to complete his Runes essay and followed the girl into the house.

After long discussions between Helga, her parents and her friends, the Founders worked on the wards around the castle to protect the Hogwarts grounds from an intrusion from the forest like they had done earlier with the Hogsmeade side, and finally declared the area safe enough not only for the students but also for the smaller children.

"Why don't we just allow the small ones to attend classes? They helped so much with the building of Hogwarts that they belong to her just like we do, and I think we've all seen how powerful they are, especially Harry," Godric suggested one day.

Rowena and Helga immediately agreed, trusting that it would be exactly what Helga's small sister and Rowena's heir wanted and needed at this stage. However, everyone looked at Salazar, knowing that he wasn't one to easily agree.

"Since they're not eleven yet, they can't hold a wand like all their classmates, and even if they're used to casting wandless magic by now, it'll still be difficult for Thunderbolt and Chatterbox."

Helga cleared her thought. "Don't forget that it's my sister you're calling 'Chatterbox'," she said in a mocked angry tone, causing Salazar to smirk.

"Oh Helga dearest, let's just say yes and end this meeting, so we can go on a date," Salazar replied, gently pulling her into his arms.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

From the beginning of the school year onwards, Ceridwen and Harry were allowed to attend classes at Hogwarts. However, in contrast to the normal students, they stayed at home and walked up to the castle in the morning and back home in time for dinner.

In the beginning, the Founders divided the students into four classes according to their age. The first year class held ten students of the age from eleven to twelve, the second year class had five students from the age of thirteen and fourteen, the third year class, which was the OWL class, had five students, and the fourth class for the sixteen and seventeen year old students that ended with the NEWTs had five students.

Glad that they had been allowed to attend the Welcoming Feast, Ceridwen and Harry observed from the Head table how the Sorting Hat, a well worn hat that Godric had, in which he had placed a series of complicated charms, greeted the students and sorted them into their respective Houses, eight of them into Gryffindor, seven into Slytherin and five each into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Will we be sorted too?" Harry whispered to Helga, who was sitting next to him, in concern.

"No Leofost; you'll only be sorted when you officially enter Hogwarts after you turn eleven," his older sister replied calmingly.

"Thank God," Harry whispered back. "Is there any method to make sure the Hat puts me in your House?"

"Oh Harry, you're so sweet," Helga replied softly, lightly hugging the child. "Leofost, I don't think you can talk the Hat into putting you into a certain House. He is charmed to look into your mind and assess, which House fits your character the most. Don't worry, Harry. You'll do great in whatever House you are placed."

"I'm going to be in Hufflepuff too," Ceridwen announced firmly. "How could I not, considering that it's my name?"

Ceridwen and Harry couldn't wait for the classes to begin. To their surprise, they had more subjects than they had been taught in their previous classes, which the rest of their friends were still attending. Godric taught the students Transfiguration, Sword Fighting and Horseback riding, Salazar taught Potions, Occlumency and Legilimency, Rowena taught Charms, Divination and Runes, and Helga was responsible for Healing and History of Magic.

The two eight-year-olds soon noticed that the age restriction at Hogwarts that normally didn't allow children under eleven to attend the school had a reason. The older students' magic was much stronger than their own, and even if they hadn't completely believed Helga's explanation and warnings about the matter, they realised that it seemed to be much easier for the older students in their class to cast the required spells. Fortunately, they were able to practise at home every evening, and Heather and Heath did their best to help the two children with their homework and their spells.

Runes was still Harry's favourite subject, while Ceridwen loved Healing most, just like her older sister, who turned out to be a very good teacher.

During the following months, Ceridwen and Harry became good friends with all of their classmates, and both of them were really disappointed to see the school year end and everyone returned home for the summer holidays. While they had spent the school year eating lunch at the different House-tables, sometimes even breakfast when Heather allowed them to leave early enough, they decided to attend the Leaving Feast sitting at the Head table in order not to have to listen to everyone making plans for the holidays.

"Ceridwen and Harry," Helga suddenly spoke up. "Rowena and I thought about a lesson plan for the holidays for the two of you. We'd still love to teach you Healing and Runes, and Godric and Rowena offered to additionally teach you the Animagus transformation in case you're interested."

"Wow, of course," the two children blurted out simultaneously. "Thank you, Rowena and Godric!"

"You can also make yourselves useful," Salazar grumbled, causing everyone to focus curious looks in his direction. "I'd love to add a few secret passages to the castle, which I only want ourselves to know, not the students, and I believe that Harry is already very adept at making passages. We have several of them in the dungeons."

"Oh, I'd love to help add more secret passages to the castle," Harry replied in excitement. "I love talking with Hogwarts. She is so sweet."

Everyone chuckled at his comment, until Godric said thoughtfully, "Sal, that's a brilliant idea. I have several requests for passages, which I'd like to have built, and maybe Helga and Rowena will come up with some ideas as well."

"Helga," Ceridwen threw in pleadingly, "would it perhaps be possible for Harry and me to stay in the castle over the holidays, so we don't have to go home in the evening and come back in the morning? We could be so much more efficient, if we were allowed to remain here."

Everyone laughed as Harry eagerly nodded his consent. "I'll accompany you home tonight and ask Mum and Dad about their thoughts about it," Helga promised, chuckling.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

To Ceridwen's and Harry's pleasure, they were allowed to remain at Hogwarts over the holidays. Helga asked the castle to add two guest rooms to her quarters for Ceridwen and Harry to stay in, and the castle readily complied. '_Wow_,' Harry thought in amazement as he glanced around the small room that held a comfortable looking bed, a desk with two chairs, a wardrobe and a bookshelf. A magical window showed the view onto the lake and Hogsmeade. He could even see his foster parents' house. '_A whole room just for me? How cool is that?_' he thought and touched the wall to thank the castle for making such a wonderful room for him.

"I only made the walls; Professors Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prepared everything else for you," Hogwarts replied gently, causing Harry to gasp.

"Wow, your voice sounds much different from the last time I talked with you."

Hogwarts chuckled. "I know you were very busy during the school year. Nevertheless, you should talk to me more frequently. You're aware of the fact that you and Ceridwen are the only ones able to speak with me apart from the four Founders, aren't you?"

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise. "I'm sorry; I didn't know that, but I promise to speak with you more often." And Harry kept his promise. From that time onwards, he made it a habit to converse with the castle at least once a day, and he had to admit to himself that he really enjoyed their little chats.

"The Animagus Transformation is very difficult, and not every wizard and witch manages to transform into an animal," Rowena explained patiently. "First of all, you need to decide what animal you want to transform into. Do you already have an idea?"

"I'd love to change into a kitten," Ceridwen blurted out. "Do you think that'll be very difficult?"

"Any Transformation is difficult, sweetie," Rowena said gently, "but I don't see a reason why you shouldn't be able to manage that sooner or later.

"Hmmm, I'd like to change into a magical animal. It would be great if Ceridwen and I were able to talk even in our Animagus forms," Harry replied unsurely, throwing Rowena a questioning look.

"A magical animal that's able to communicate with a cat?" Rowena remained thoughtful for a moment, before she replied, "That would be either a magical Lynx or a Griffin, whereby a Griffin would surely be the more interesting form due to its wings and the ability to fly; however, it will certainly be much more difficult to achieve."

"I'll try," Harry decided excitedly. "What do I have to do to try though?"

Rowena chuckled. "At first, you have to imagine the animal you want to become. Then you imagine your left hand to be the left front paw, wing or whatever your animal has instead of your arm. In fact, that's the most difficult part of the whole Animagus Transformation, and it can take several years until you'll be able to change your left hand."

Harry and Ceridwen spent the following two months with Animagus practice as well as Runes and Healing classes in the morning, assisting Salazar with the secret passages that lead all over the castle in the afternoon.

However, as much as Harry practised attempting to transform his left hand, by the end of the holidays he hadn't even made the slightest bit of progress. It was a year later that Ceridwen spotted very light brown fur on her left hand and Harry felt his left hand stretch and soften slightly as if it was on the verge of changing into the pad of a paw.

"Congratulations; that's a huge success," Rowena gently commended the two friends. "Now it won't take much longer. By Christmas, I believe you'll both be able to transform completely."

As usual, Rowena's prediction was correct, and on the third day of the winter holidays, Ceridwen managed to completely transform into a tabby cat. Unbeknownst to the adults, Harry spent the whole night practising, and Christmas Eve morning, a griffin was slowly practising to walk on its four paws in the living room of Helga's quarters, accompanied by a small tabby cat that was chuckling and meowing at his clumsy efforts to keep himself on his feet.

"Such wonderful Animagus forms," Heather commended Harry and Ceridwen, "I'm very proud of you both for such an accomplishment that many grown individuals have spent many years trying to do and still can not manage to do."

"It's very difficult to walk on these feet though, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to fly," Harry said as he transformed back in his human form.

"You'll get used to it. I know someone else who had problems walking last night," Heather chuckled, glancing at Ceridwen. "Rowena is a raven Animagus, and I'm sure she will be able to help you learn to fly."

'_I wonder why everyone agreed to spend Christmas at Hogwarts_,' Harry mused, noticing that not only his own foster parents but also the parents and siblings of the other Founders were spending Christmas at the castle.

"I have no idea," Ceridwen replied when Harry asked her. "I was wondering myself, because they didn't do it last year or the year before."

The two ten-year-old didn't have to wait long to find out. At Christmas dinner, Helga and Salazar as well as Rowena and Godric publicized their double engagement and announced they were going to hold a double wedding on the first of August next summer.

'_Wow, that's too cool. I've never seen a wedding before, and seeing two pairs getting married at once must be wicked_,' Harry thought, exchanging an excited look with Ceridwen. "I can't wait for the summer to come," he whispered on their way back to the Hufflepuff quarters, causing the girl to chuckle.

"Time is passing by so quickly anyway. I can't believe this is already our third year at Hogwarts. What are we going to do here next year when we're eleven and supposed to be a first year, will we have to start over again?"

Harry groaned. "I have no idea. I just hope they'll think of something that'll make it at least a little bit interesting for us."

The Founders indeed thought of something, although Harry was not very pleased to hear the result. It was a warm spring day at the end of May, when Helga addressed Ceridwen and Harry, who were eating lunch at the Slytherin table.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Hufflepuff, please come to the Headmaster's office for a moment."

The two third years threw the teacher a questioning look; however, the professor returned to the Head table without further ado, leaving the children to wonder what was wrong.

To their surprise, Rowena was the one who spoke up first. "Harry," she began in a soft voice. "Even if I haven't shown you anything so far, you probably know from our conversations that I've had many visions about you and the future."

"Yes," Harry said timidly, fidgeting in his seat.

"Harry, you're a very important person in the future. You're the saviour of the wizarding world. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that you return to the future for the next school year. You must attend your first Hogwarts year in the year 1991."

'_They're already fed up with me, and now they want to get rid of me by sending me back_,' Harry thought in shock.

"I'll go with him," Ceridwen threw in heatedly, noticing that Harry silently began to cry.

"Harry, you can come back here during the holidays," Helga said gently, pulling him in a bear hug. "Let's speak with Mum and Dad about the matter, and if they don't mind, Ceridwen can accompany you, so that you can attend Hogwarts together in the future, provided that you come back home for Christmas and summer holidays."

"Really?" Harry asked in a small voice, throwing Ceridwen a teary-eyed look.

"Of course," she replied pleasantly. "We'll have so much fun in the future. Just think about it. No one except for us will know all the secrets of the castle. We'll be the only ones, who can talk to her and who know all about the secret passages we made last year." She chuckled in anticipation of the fun they were going to have.

Fortunately, Heather and Heath grudgingly agreed to let Ceridwen go with Harry; however, they instructed both children firmly to return at the beginning of the Christmas and summer holidays.

"How am I supposed to arrive at exactly the right place and time?" Harry asked Helga during the summer holidays, placing the book on the table in the living room of her quarters.

Helga quickly skimmed the book. "Here, there is only a picture of Hogsmeade of 1960, but I believe Dad said you could simply add pictures to the book. Harry, you're so good at drawing; why don't you draw a picture of your room in my quarters and write a date on the parchment." She thought for a moment. "It should be the first of September, 1991."

Harry complied and painted a picture of his room, including the view onto the lake and his foster parents' house. Unfortunately, due to all the excitement all over the castle that was full of people celebrating the huge double wedding, no one noticed that Harry wrote the figures on his picture in a slightly wrong sequence. In the morning of the first of September, Ceridwen and Harry held hands, while they firmly pressed their free hands on Harry's picture, which Godric had kindly attached to the book for them.

_

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_

tbc…

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much! _

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	7. Attempt to Travel with the Book

******The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**7 – Attempt to Travel with the Book**

As soon as Ceridwen and Harry touched the painting in the book, they felt a small whirlwind begin whipping around them. It became stronger and stronger, and they couldn't see anything, until it calmed down again. Harry just sensed the wind stop when he felt a sharp pain in his head, and the world turned completely black. By the time his mind regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the floor of his own room in Helga's quarters. Ceridwen was leaning over him, staring at him in concern.

"Harry, are you all right? You hit your head against the corner of the wardrobe," she informed him excitedly.

"My head," Harry moaned. "It hurts. Thank God we arrived in my room. Are you all right, Ceridwen?"

"I'm fine, Harry. Be careful. Don't move your head; you probably have a concussion, considering that you lost consciousness." She carefully cast a simple healing spell and sighed. "Yes Harry, you have a concussion. Stay where you are for the time being." She fetched his pillow from the bed and very carefully lifted his head just enough to slide the pillow underneath, before she covered him with the blanket and glanced at the charmed display of time at the ceiling. "1:30 a.m.," she read. "That means that we're either late, or we still have lots of time. Stay here and wait for a moment. Don't fall asleep. Let me see if anyone is around in our quarters, or if I can find any potions that will help you. Otherwise, I'm going to search for someone to help us. Do you think the hospital room will still be at the same place where it was one thousand years ago?"

"I have no idea," Harry mumbled, "but you can ask the castle. Sorry, I'm going to be sick."

Ceridwen hurriedly conjured a basket and carefully helped Harry lean over as his stomach decided to get rid of its contents. Only when he seemed to feel better and was calmly lying down again, she finally left the room after once more instructing Harry to stay awake. She went into her own room, noticing that it looked a bit different from before; however, she could still recognise that it was her own room, and she loved the slightly modern touch the room had. The other rooms looked slightly different as well; however, no one seemed to be living there at the moment. In the bathroom, she found a few phials with potions; however, there was nothing Harry needed at the moment, and since she didn't know how old the potions were anyway, she decided to go and look for the hospital room.

Returning to Harry's room to check on him before she left, she laid her hand on the wall. "Hello Hogwarts. Can you hear me?"

"Ceridwen," the castle replied sleepily, sounding much older than in the past. "I'm glad to have the two of you back. You arrived at a strange time though. What happened?"

"We were supposed to come here on the first of September 1991," Ceridwen replied in surprise. "I know that it's the middle of the night, but we couldn't time it better."

Hogwarts chuckled. "Today is not the first of September, dear. It's the ninth of January 1991."

Ceridwen looked at the book that was still open on the floor next to Harry. "Oh my, Harry wrote the numbers in a wrong sequence, and no one noticed. What are we going to do now?"

"What?" Harry asked sleepily.

"Ceridwen," Hogwarts spoke up thoughtfully. "You can either go to the hospital wing, which is still at the same place as before. However, the Mediwitch would probably call the Headmaster, and if you want to keep your presence here a secret for the time being, I wouldn't recommend it. He was the one, who sent Harry to his relatives, at least as far as I know from the conversations I overheard in his office."

"Ah all right then; what else can I do?" Ceridwen asked impatiently.

"In the living room is a picture of Helga, Salazar, Rowena and Godric. Speak with Salazar. His portrait is guarding the door to the private quarters of the Slytherin Head of House, Professor Snape. Ask Salazar to fetch Professor Snape. He is the Potions Master and will certainly be able to help Harry. He is also related to Salazar, because he is the many times great grandson of Severus Slytherin."

"Thank you Hogwarts," Ceridwen shouted and dashed away. She stood in front of the painting that held the four Founders. "Salazar, wake up quickly," she shouted and hurriedly told her brother-in-law what had happened.

"Ceridwen, you must keep Harry awake," Helga said sternly, shooing Salazar away. "Go and inform your portrait, Sal."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Severus Snape was sitting at his desk, grading essays, a task, which he absolutely detested. All of a sudden, he heard through the open door to his private quarters that the portrait of Salazar Slytherin seemed to be talking to him. Severus groaned in annoyance. '_What's wrong now?_' he thought. '_If it's not Albus or the dunderheads, it's the most annoying portrait on the face of the earth that disturbs me_.'

"What happened?" he asked, stepping over into the living room.

"There are two time travellers," Salazar informed him, "in fact it's my sister-in-law and her foster brother. They just arrived from the past, and they need your help. Can you go to my wife's and my quarters, please? It's behind the portrait of the four of us, which you'll find if you walk down the corridor in front of the hospital wing. I'll instruct my sister-in-law to open the door for you."

'_What the f..._,' Severus thought and grudgingly agreed, shaking his head in annoyance as he strode through the halls that were thankfully as deserted as they were supposed to be at that time of the night. '_Oh well, I'm certainly going to enjoy my birthday from the start.'_ Severus thought sarcastically to himself.

"You must be Professor Snape. I am Ceridwen Hufflepuff. I'm sorry to disturb you at this time of the night," Ceridwen greeted him politely.

"That's all right. I hope you will give me an adequate explanation," Severus sneered, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Of course. Please come in, Professor." Ceridwen motioned for the professor to take a seat on the sofa in the living room and told him everything about Harry's time travel, their life in the past and that Rowena had instructed them to come to the future because of the visions she had seen.

"Harry Potter?" Severus asked in surprise, trying to keep his feelings of absolute annoyance to himself. "Everyone here assumes that he is living with his relatives."

"He is in his room. He hit his head badly when we arrived here, and he has a concussion. Unfortunately, the potions I could find in my sister's bathroom are all very old, and I'm not as adept as Harry at brewing. Can you give him a potion please?"

"Show me to his room," Severus instructed the girl. He couldn't help feeling impressed by her thoughtfulness. '_If all our first year students were as alert, it would be more fun to teach Potions_,' he thought as he followed Ceridwen into Harry's room.

"Mr. Potter," he greeted the boy, who to his surprise was quietly talking to an old woman, who seemed to be invisible.

"Hogwarts, Professor Snape is here now. I'll talk to you later. Thank you for keeping me awake," the child said and removed his right hand from the wall, before he greeted the professor.

"Excuse me," Severus asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Both of us helped my sister and her friends to build Hogwarts; therefore, we're able to speak with her by touching her walls. Please keep this a secret just like our presence here at the moment."

"I will," Severus said in confusion and waved his wand over the boy. "Mr. Potter, your friend was right, and you indeed have a concussion. Normally, I would take you to Madam Pomfrey, our Mediwitch; however, since no one is supposed to know about your presence here, I suggest that you remain here in your own room for the time being." He carefully levitated Harry onto the bed, before he called Cicero, his personal house-elf.

"Good evening, Master Severus," the elf said, bowing slightly.

"Fetch me a few phials of the potion for concussion," Severus instructed the elf, who popped away and back within seconds. "Since I don't want you to move your head, I will spell the potion straight into your system," he informed the boy as he once more waved his wand.

"Thank you," Harry replied gratefully. "That's much better."

"You still mustn't move your head, Harry," Ceridwen admonished him firmly. "Professor, thank you so much for coming and helping us. When will he need his next dose of the potion, sir? In six hours?"

The Potions Master smirked. "You seem to know a lot about Healing. Do you by chance know any diagnostic spells?"

"Yes sir," Ceridwen replied eagerly. "We attended classes at Hogwarts in the past, from the time we were eight, and I took Healing classes from the beginning. I know the simple diagnostic spell, I can take a temperature, and I know a few easy Healing spells, but I'm not allowed to use them on other students yet, and I can't spell a potion into someone."

"Very well then. Give him his next dose of the potion in six hours. If he gets a fever or feels worse, tell Salazar to call me," Severus instructed Ceridwen. "I'll come and check on you again in the morning."

"Thank you so much. I will tell my sister and her friends on the painting at the entrance to let you in," Ceridwen said gratefully, causing the Potions Master to slightly incline his head.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Professor Snape kept Harry in bed for three days, before he allowed him to get up, provided that he didn't use any magic.

"Thank you very much for your help, sir, and for keeping our secret," Harry said gratefully.

"Now, I suggest that the two of you answer a few questions for me," Severus said thoughtfully, motioning for the two children to take seats in the living room. "What exactly is this book in which you used to time travel?"

"I'll get it," Harry said, but Ceridwen was faster and fetched the book for him. Harry thanked her and explained to the Potions Master how he had found it in a Muggle bookshop and had unconsciously used it for the first time. He also showed the teacher the picture he painted. "I don't know how I could write the wrong date on the parchment," he added, blushing slightly.

"You don't have to be ashamed, Harry," Ceridwen threw in. "You drew that very well. We arrived at the right place, and it could have been much worse if you had sent us to a different year, far into the past or the future."

"Exactly," Severus agreed. "Nevertheless, I suggest that you change the numbers on your parchment and travel another seven months into the future. However, I believe that we have to clarify a few things beforehand." Seeing the children look at him in confusion, he elaborated, "On your eleventh birthday, your Hogwarts letter will be sent out, and you need to reply to it. I can ask Cicero, my house-elf, to divert your letter to me and then send out a reply, which you need to write and give to me before you leave. We also need to buy the school supplies for both of you. Do you have a wand?"

Ceridwen and Harry shook their heads, and Severus continued, "Then we also have to buy wands for you, and we have to somehow deal with the Dursleys in case the Headmaster or someone else goes there to give you your Hogwarts letter personally or take you shopping in the summer."

"Oh," Harry said in surprise.

"Another matter we need to think about is how to explain your presence here, Ms. Hufflepuff. Shall we inform the Headmaster about your time travel? Or do you want to pretend that you came from the past alone? In any case, we need to make a detailed plan."

"Professor, thank you so much for helping us," Ceridwen said gratefully. "We..."

"Sorry Ceridwen; Professor, do you know how to make a genealogic parchment? I'm sorry; I don't know exactly how it's called. But you look like the spitting image of Severus Slytherin, Salazar's brother, and if you're really a descendant from him, maybe you could just introduce Ceridwen as your relative or such?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"That would be a possibility," Severus said thoughtfully. He conjured a parchment and pointed his wand at it, mumbling an incantation, before he magically extracted one drop of blood from the small finger of his right hand and carefully let it drop onto the parchment.

Small blue lines spread over the parchment, beginning with Severus at the bottom and leading upwards to the origin of the Slytherin line. "Severus Slytherin, indeed," Severus stated, pointing to a name on the parchment. "This means that you're my sister-in-law, Ms. Hufflepuff." He remained pensive for a moment, before he finally said, "I suggest telling people that you were my cousin's child and that your parents made me your guardian when they travelled abroad or died, whatever is more comfortable with you."

"That's a good idea," Ceridwen said warmly. "However, wouldn't it be strange if I showed up exactly on the first of September, sir?"

"If you prepare a reply to your Hogwarts letter as well, it would suffice if I told the Headmaster about you and enrolled you for the next school year. I need your complete name and your date of birth in order to stay as close to the truth as possible."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the next few days, Severus and the two children planned everything in detail. On Saturday morning, while the whole school was attending the Quidditch match Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, Severus took the children to Diagon Alley to buy their wands and robes. They also made a trip to Gringotts, where Ceridwen and Harry gained access to their ancestors' vaults.

"When you arrive at Hogwarts at the beginning of the school year, I will teach you how to place an owl order," Severus promised. "For the time being I will order your school books and everything else you'll need for the beginning of the school year. The sooner we leave the better, in order not to be seen."

Back at Hogwarts, Ceridwen and Harry prepared themselves to leave for the first of September. With Severus' help, Harry had corrected the date in the book, and the two children just reached out for the picture, when Harry suddenly drew his hand back and asked, "Professor, do you have any idea how we could prevent ourselves from hitting our heads when we arrive next time?"

Severus smirked and cast a cushioning charm at the two children and instructed them to contact him through Salazar when they arrived.

Finally, Ceridwen and Harry took each other's hands and firmly pressed their other hands on the picture in the book. Immediately, they felt a familiar whirlwind begin that became stronger and stronger, until it calmed down again.

"Harry, are you all right?" Ceridwen asked in concern, giving him a sharp look.

"Yes, and you?" Harry replied, smirking as he scrambled up from the floor. "Thank God for the cushioning charm. We need to remember that we always need to cast it on each other, before we travel with the book."

"That's true," Ceridwen agreed, looking at the time display. "4:30 p.m.," she read, "that's not bad. We should have a few hours left, before the Sorting is going to begin, provided that it's still the same in this time."

"Oh well, let's ask Salazar to tell Professor Snape that we're here," Harry suggested, heading out into the living room, where he found all of their school books neatly piled on the table.

"Let me tell you something. Arriving at the wrong time the last time was the best thing that could happen to us," Ceridwen said, chuckling. "Imagine we had arrived here today in the first place. We wouldn't have had any of our school books, nor proper robes or our wands."

"And thank God that we met Professor Snape. He is really nice," Harry replied, absentmindedly skimming his Potions book. He looked up startled when the door opened and Professor Snape entered their quarters.

"Congratulations for managing to arrive on the right day," the teacher sneered, causing Harry to roll his eyes, while he felt his cheeks turn pink.

"Thank you Professor, for everything," Ceridwen replied softly.

"You're welcome. Thankfully, the Headmaster doesn't suspect anything. Now, I suggest that you accompany me to Hogsmeade, where you can unobtrusively mix in with the other first years and ride the boats back to the castle," Severus told them.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Ceridwen and Harry enjoyed the trip with the boats immensely, resolving to tell Helga all about them as soon as they returned home the next time. They sat together with a Muggle born girl with bushy brown hair and a shy boy, who was constantly looking for his toad. Both of them seemed to be very nice, and the four first years talked animatedly when they followed Professor McGonagall and their new classmates into the Great Hall.

'_Wow, this doesn't look so much different from how it looked in the past_,' Harry mused, sceptically eyeing the Sorting Hat. '_I hope it'll sort me together with Ceridwen, Hermione and Neville_.' However, his hopes were destroyed quickly when Ceridwen and their two new friends ended up in three different Houses.

_

* * *

_

tbc…

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much._

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	8. The Sorting

******The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**8 – The Sorting**

"Potter, Harry," Professor McGonagall finally called his name, and Harry quickly made his was to the stool and took a seat, suddenly feeling very excited.

'_Oh, it's you. Another time traveller. How nice_,' a faint voice penetrated his mind. '_What am I going to do with you?_'

'_Oh well, since you put my three friends into three different houses, why don't you just sort me into Slytherin, so that I can dwell on my misery all on my own_,' Harry thought sarcastically, before he readied himself to reply to the Hat.

However, apparently the Hat had understood his thoughts, because he replied, '_Well, if that's what you want; what a Slytherin way to tell me that you want to be together with Helga's sister_.' Before Harry could react in any way, the Hat shouted into the Hall, "Slytherin."

"Stupid old Hat," Harry mumbled, totally annoyed, before he tore the Hat from his head and handed it back to Professor McGonagall. He slowly walked over to the Slytherin table and sat next to the other first years, who had already been sorted.

"Hello Harry, I am Blaise Zabini," the boy on his left side told him.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied, looking over to Ceridwen, who was smiling at him from the Hufflepuff table.

"Who would not know Harry Potter?" the girl to his right side chuckled, before she introduced herself as Millicent Bulstrode.

"Why?" Harry asked in surprise, causing everyone to laugh.

"Well, at least it will have been a shock for Dumbledorks that Harry Potter was sorted into Slytherin," a very blonde boy, who then told Harry that he was Draco Malfoy, sneered.

'_I have no idea what they're talking about_,' Harry mused, resolving to ask Ceridwen or Professor Snape afterwards.

After a few words from the Headmaster, dinner began, and Harry noticed that the food was even better than it had been in the past. '_Well, they'll probably have different ingredients_,' he mused, listening as his classmates talked about the teachers at the Head table.

"That's Professor Quirrell I think. Father told me about him and his smelly turban. He said the poor man stutters so much that it was a wonder Dumbledorks hired him as a teacher," Draco just explained, and Harry followed his look, noticing that the man next to Professor Snape was indeed wearing a strange turban.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his forehead, causing him to quickly grab his head. "Is everything all right?" Blaise asked, eyeing him in concern.

"Yes, of course," Harry replied quickly, sighing in relief as the pain subsided. '_The man is strange. I wonder if that was my scar that suddenly hurt so much. The pain seemed to come from that part of my head, but how can that happen?_' he thought as he absentmindedly finished his dinner.

Suddenly, Professor Snape swept behind the House table. "Prefects, please gather the House in the common room for our House meeting in twenty minutes," he said in his baritone voice, causing the prefects to jump from their seats.

Harry threw a longing look at Ceridwen, realising sadly that he wouldn't have a chance to speak with her tonight, and the girl smiled and waved her hand at him, causing him to feel much better. '_We'll find some time to meet tomorrow. Maybe we can do our homework together in our quarters_,' he thought and quickly followed his classmates down to the dungeons, a way that Harry knew all too well. '_I made these stairs together with Salazar_,' he thought happily as he walked. '_Oh, and there's the shortcut to the lake. I wonder if Professor Snape knows about it. As sad as it is to be in a different House from Ceridwen, I'm glad to have him as my Head of House. He is really nice_.'

The group finally reached a huge portrait of Salazar. "This is Salazar Slytherin, the Founder of our House," one of the prefects informed them. "The password is 'Proud to be a Slytherin'."

Harry and the other first years observed in amazement how their housemates gathered in the common room, sitting in a circle on the floor. The first years were motioned to sit in the middle. Harry let his eyes wander around the room, which was filled with old, yet comfortable looking sofas that were grouped around the huge fireplace. '_It doesn't look much different from what it looked like when we first furnished it_,' Harry realised. '_I'm looking forward to sleep in the dormitories with the windows looking out into the lake. It must be so much fun to watch the fish, and it was my idea_,' he thought proudly.

Suddenly, the room became quiet when Professor Snape swept in through a hardly visible door to their left, of which Harry knew led to the Potions Master's office. "Welcome to Slytherin to the first years, welcome back to the older students," he greeted them, his face schooled to a blank expression.

'_I like his voice_,' Harry mused, listening to the professor's monologue with interest.

"Slytherin has always had a bad reputation, and we all have to work on improving this. Remember that no one cares about Slytherins, so we have to look after ourselves. We are a huge family, and I expect all of you to interact like brothers and sisters. I do not want to see any fights outside this House. If you want to fight with your siblings, do it here."

'_Slytherin has a bad reputation?_' Harry thought. '_Why would that be? At least in the past, all the four Houses were equal_.'

"I expect you to study in small groups here in the common room or if necessary in the library. If you have questions, the older students will be here to help you. In return, I expect the younger students to do small chores for the fifth and seventh year students, who are busy studying for their exams. If you lose House points to any of the teachers or prefects, you will also lose points within the House. If you earn yourself a detention with any other professor, you will additionally serve a detention with me. Within our House, you can earn good points in form of snakes or bad points in form of toads. Everything concerning the rules, snakes, toads, rewards and punishment is displayed on the board over there. Follow the rules, and you won't have any problems."

'_Snakes and toads must be a new invention. I don't think Salazar used such a system_,' Harry mused as the professor continued his explanation, resolving to be careful not to receive any toads.

"Independent from the school's curfew, Slytherin has its own curfew. For all students from first through fourth year curfew is at nine o'clock; for the fifth, sixth and seventh years curfew is at ten o'clock. Bedtime and lights out is eleven o'clock for everyone. See that you keep to these times. If you can't manage to finish your homework by then, you may come to my office before your bed time and speak with me. Furthermore, you must be on time at all times. You have to attend breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Great Hall on time, and of course you must be in your classrooms punctually. If you are ill or for some other reason unable to be on time, you must come and inform me or go straight to Madam Pomfrey. I will spend at least thirty minutes in the common room every night. Feel free to speak with me about school matters or private topics."

'_I'm glad Professor Snape knows that I grew up in the past. It's bad enough that I have to keep it a secret from everyone else_,' Harry thought, hoping that he would have a chance to speak with the professor in private soon.

"Every Friday evening at eight o'clock sharp, we're going to hold a House meeting here in the common room. Everyone has to attend. No excuses, except for being in Madam Pomfrey's care in the hospital wing. Now I would like the first years to introduce themselves to the House."

Harry absently listened to his classmates introducing themselves, frantically wondering what he should say. Throwing the professor a help searching look, he finally said, "I'm Harry Potter. My parents died when I was small…" '_No, they're alive in the past_,' his mind screamed, "I don't have any siblings…" '_In fact I have two foster sisters, and one of them is somewhere in the castle at the moment_,' "and I don't know much about here." '_Apart from the fact that I helped building this castle_.'

Everyone applauded politely, and Harry sighed in relief when they were led to their dormitory. He happily noticed that his bed was the one right next to the window on the right side of the room, just next to where a soft green stone stood out from the wall. '_Oh, the mattress Hogwarts made for me when I was sick is still here_,' Harry realized, feeling very glad and excited. '_Right, I'm not alone here. Hogwarts is here, and I can always talk to her_,' he thought happily.

Harry had just finished unpacking his belongings, when one of the older students came into the dormitory. "Professor Snape wants to speak with each of you personally. Follow me to his office and line up to wait for your turn."

Harry noticed that the prefect didn't lead them through the connecting door but out of the common room into the dungeon hall, before he motioned for them to wait. Harry was the last in the line, but he didn't mind. '_Maybe that way I'll have more time to ask him questions. I want to know why everyone knows my name_,' he mused, before his thoughts wandered to the past and the family he has there. Finally, Blaise, who had been right before him in the line, was called in, and Harry remained alone in the corridor. He placed his hand against the wall.

"Hogwarts," he whispered, "may I disturb you?"

The castle chuckled, before she whispered back, "You're not disturbing me, my boy. I'm glad that you remember to speak with me from time to time. I see you ended up in the House, which you built together with Salazar. Don't you think you were predestined to be sorted here? Don't you feel proud to live in the rooms, which you helped to construct? The same goes for Ceridwen. She mainly helped Helga to build the Hufflepuff House."

"I understand," Harry replied. "However, I still feel a bit sad to be in a different House. Do you think we'll be able to meet in our own rooms and do our homework together?"

"Of course you will be able to spend your free time with her," Hogwarts said, chuckling again. "The two of you know me better than anyone else, don't you? Do you still remember how to make a secret door? Why don't you make a door that leads from your dormitory to your own room and another one from Ceridwen's dormitory to her own room? That way, you'll be able to meet whenever you want."

"Oh Hogwarts, you're absolutely brilliant," Harry blurted out. "That's a fantastic idea. Thank you so much."

"I'm magical, and I'm only as brilliant as the six witches and wizards that built me," the castle chuckled, just when the door to Professor Snape's office opened and Blaise stepped out.

Harry quickly withdrew his hand and hesitantly entered the office. The professor motioned for him to take a seat in front of his desk and quietly observed him for an infinite amount of time. Harry averted his eyes to the floor, unsure if he was allowed to speak, or if he was supposed to wait for the professor to address him.

"Mr. Potter," Severus finally said, "what a surprise."

Harry looked up, throwing the professor a questioning look. "I'm sorry, Professor, may I ask some questions?" Seeing the professor nod, he asked, "Why does everyone know my name, and what is a surprise, sir?"

"Mr. Potter, did your relatives ever tell you why you were supposed to live with them?"

"My relatives?" Harry asked in disbelief. "No, they didn't even tell me that I was a wizard. My foster parents told me. Please tell me everything, sir. Apart from Ceridwen, you're the only person here in the castle who knows about me living in the past."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Many people think they know about you though. Well, I don't believe that I am the right person to inform you, but since the Headmaster doesn't seem to be inclined to take action..." He interrupted himself, before he slowly began to explain, "The times when you were born were very dark times. The Dark Lord killed many people, and he also went to your home when you were one year old and killed your parents." Ignoring Harry's gasp, he continued, "He also tried to kill you; however, he couldn't. He only managed to give you the scar on your forehead, while the spell seems to have backfired and defeated him. I don't believe that it killed him; however, he has vanished, at least for the time being. Therefore, everyone thinks of you as the saviour of the wizarding world."

"Because of something I did as a baby?" Harry asked in disbelief, letting out a snort, before he became pensive. "Professor, I think he will come back soon though. As you perhaps know, Rowena Ravenclaw was a Seer, and she told me that I had to attend Hogwarts here in the future, because I had to save the wizarding world again, although I'd have preferred to remain in the past. I don't know exactly what she meant, but she said we'd speak about it when Ceridwen and I return home for Christmas."

Severus remained pensive for a short while, before he said, "Harry, you must be very careful, and if you notice anything strange, you are to come and inform me at once. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir. Um... Excuse me, sir, but why is it strange that I was sorted into your House?"

The professor cleared his throat. "Many dark wizards were in Slytherin. Therefore, this House has always had a bad reputation for turning out dark wizards. However, for many witches and wizards of our time, you are the symbol of the light side. Therefore, it seems strange that you were sorted into Slytherin. I am very glad to have you here though, and I hope you'll help our House to improve its reputation."

"I'll try," Harry said firmly. "I especially love this House, because I helped Salazar to build it," he hesitantly admitted. "I put up quite a fight with him to make the dormitories have windows looking out into the lake, and I'm glad to have the bed right next to one."

"Very well, have a good evening and I will see you tomorrow," the Potions Master replied with an unreadable expression on his face and dismissed Harry.

Harry returned to his dormitory. Seeing that his classmates had already changed into pyjamas and were getting ready for bed, he did the same, all the while he was thinking, '_As soon as they're asleep, I'm going to make the secret door to my room_.' To his relief, it didn't take long until he could hear the regular breathing of his four classmates. He laid his hand on the wall right next to his bed and made the door to his own room. Stepping through the door, he walked over into Ceridwen's room and made another door, asking the castle to connect it to the wall next to her bed in Hufflepuff. '_I'll better leave a message for her_,' he mused and quickly scribbled an explanation for her on a parchment, which he placed on her desk in case she discovered the door before he was able to speak with her. '_That was a brilliant idea_,' he thought as he drifted off to sleep a few minutes later, feeling very grateful towards the castle for her suggestion.

When Professor Snape handed out the timetables at breakfast, Harry sadly registered that he didn't have any classes together with Ceridwen. '_I wonder if classes are very different from what they were in the past_,' he mused, expecting everything to be very easy for him, because he had already attended classes in the past. However, his first Transfiguration class told him differently.

Seeing a tabby cat sit on the teacher's desk, Harry could hardly resist the temptation to transform into his griffin form. However, remembering that he was supposed to have grown up with his Muggle relatives, he restrained himself and quickly sat at the empty seat between Draco and Blaise. '_Oh thank God I didn't transform_,' he thought upon realising that the cat was his professor.

After a short introduction, Professor McGonagall handed out matches to everyone, instructing the students to transfigure them into needles. Harry hesitantly pulled his wand out of his robe pocket. '_How am I supposed to do magic with a wand?_' he wondered and observed his classmates waving their wands at their matches.

"Mr. Potter, is anything wrong?" McGonagall queried, causing Harry to look up in shock.

"Err...no," he replied quickly and waved his wand, uttering the incantation. To his surprise, the match obediently changed into a needle, and the professor was just on the verge of commenting him, when the needle turned upwards, and a huge flame burst from her tip. Fortunately, the flame vanished immediately. Harry looked at the long, silvery thing in shock.

"Of course, Potter must think he was better than the rest of us," he heard someone whisper aloud and turned around to see that it was a red headed boy, who was sitting next to Neville.

"Why would I think I was better?" he asked in an upset voice. "Didn't you see that I didn't manage to cast the spell properly?"

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, behave yourselves," the professor said sternly, her lips stretched to a thin line. "Mr. Potter, you probably put much too much magic into the spell. Try again and transfigure your needle back into a match, but be more careful the next time," she added in a slightly friendlier voice.

Seeing that the professor was observing him, Harry waved his wand again, feeling very conscious about the magic, and only whispered the incantation. However, the spell still seemed to be too strong. The needle changed back into a match; however, as before the tip lit itself, and the match burned completely down, before the flame died. '_Strange that the table is completely unharmed_,' Harry mused, staring at the spot in front of him in horror.

"Mr. Potter, please remain after class," Professor McGonagall said firmly, throwing him a strange look.

'_Oh no_,' Harry thought, terrified as he felt the eyes of his classmates trained on himself. '_So much about not attracting any attention to myself_.' He quietly slid his wand back into his robe pocket and averted his eyes to his desk, wishing that he could go back to the past right away. '_I need to speak with Ceridwen_,' he thought. '_I can't live here. It's horrible, because everyone thinks I'm special. Maybe we can just go home and once more beg Helga, Rowena and the others to let me stay there and attend classes in the past_.' He unobtrusively wiped a tear from his cheek, when he was suddenly brought back to reality as the professor dismissed his classmates. '_Oh no; what am I going to tell her?_' he wondered, horrified. '_I can't tell her that I'm used to performing magic wandlessly now, can I?_'

* * *

_tbc…_

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much._

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


	9. Classes

******The Book of Seals to the Magical World - by teddylonglong**

**9 – Classes**

"Mr. Potter, please follow me into my office," the Gryffindor Head instructed him, and Harry cautiously followed the professor, noticing in relief that her expression became much friendlier when they left the classroom.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he said in a barely audible voice. "I haven't ever used a wand before."

McGonagall gave him a sharp look. "Most students only receive their wands when they turn eleven. Therefore, many of them have never used a wand before, which is the explanation of why none of your other classmates managed to perform the transfiguration. You were the only one; however, to manage any type of change but your spell seemed much too strong." She let out a long sigh. "Mr. Potter, did you ever willingly do magic before? Without a wand?"

"Yes Madame," Harry hesitantly admitted. "I'd probably be able to do the Transfiguration without my wand."

The professor threw him a surprised look. "You are capable of wandless magic?" she queried, causing Harry to slightly nod his head. She conjured a match and laid it in front of Harry on the desk. "Go on then."

Under the Transfiguration professor's watchful eyes, Harry easily transfigured the match into a needle, sighing in relief when the needle remained on the desk as it was supposed to do.

"Very well done, Mr. Potter. Five points to Slytherin," McGonagall commended him gently, before her expression turned stern again. "Mr. Potter, the ability of wandless magic is very uncommon to say the least, especially at your young age. I know that you grew up with your relatives, but did you by chance receive any kind of magical training before you came here?"

Harry threw the witch a terrified look. '_I don't want to lie, but what am I supposed to say?_' he thought frantically. "Yes Professor, but I'm not supposed to speak about the matter," he said quietly.

McGonagall sighed. "Mr. Potter, please tell me at least if anyone here at Hogwarts knows about it and who told you not to speak about it."

"Professor Snape knows about it," Harry said hesitantly.

McGonagall glanced at her wrist watch. "Unfortunately, we don't have time to continue this discussion at the moment. Please come back to me after dinner. In the meantime, I'd like you to consider letting me in on the secret. You probably don't know that your mother was like a daughter to me and I often babysat you when she was still alive. Whatever the truth is, I want you to know that I'll fully support you. You definitely need help doing wand magic. I suggest that you try not to let anyone know that you're capable of wandless magic."

"Professor, if I tell you the truth as well, can you promise me not to tell the Headmaster about it?"

The professor threw him a surprised look. "Of course, Harry." She quickly scribbled something on a parchment. "Hand this to your professor in case you're late for your second class."

Harry profusely thanked the professor, knowing that he'd manage to be in front of the Potions classroom within thirty seconds if he used one of the hidden doors.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Professor Snape just opened the classroom door when Harry arrived. He once more sat between Draco and Blaise, who threw him sympathetic looks. Harry smiled back and listened with interest as the professor began to hold a monologue about the art of Potions. From the corner of his eyes, Harry could see that Ron Weasley was pointing at him, snickering together with another Gryffindor boy, whose name Harry didn't know.

"Some of you seem to think that they needn't listen to their professors," Severus suddenly interrupted his speech, turning around quickly. "Mr. Weasley, tell me what would I get if I inserted worm wood to a basic healing potion and stirred clockwise?"

"How should I know?" Ron replied, shrugging. "This is only our first class."

"You don't know? Such a pity," the professor sneered. "Five points from Gryffindor for your insolence. Mr. Potter, can you enlighten your classmate?"

"An explosion, sir," Harry replied quietly, sighing as he felt himself blush when everyone's attention was turned to him... again.

"That is correct. Five points to Slytherin, Mr. Potter. Now if you're finished, Mr. Weasley, let's begin with your first simple healing potion. The recipe is on the board." With a flick of his wand, the recipe appeared, and Harry saw that it was indeed a very simple concoction.

He quickly gathered his ingredients and managed to flawlessly brew the potion, sighing in relief when he bottled one phial and placed it on the professor's desk. '_That's strange though_,' he mused as he reflected the potion he had just brewed while he waited for his classmates to finish their potions, absently noticing that the professor took more House points from Ron and also from Neville, who had managed to make his potion explode. '_Why aren't there any full moon dew drops in the recipe? Salazar used the same recipe, however with full moon dew drops in them. Last year, we even went out at four o'clock in the morning to harvest them_.'

Seeing that the professor returned to his desk and quietly observed the class, Harry hesitantly stepped to his side. "Excuse me, sir; may I ask you something?"

Severus looked up, questioningly raising an eyebrow, and Harry asked about the full moon dew drops in a barely audible voice, noticing that the professor was hardly able to hide his surprise.

"Why would I want to insert full moon dew drops?" he whispered with apparent interest.

"Because they're supposed to strengthen the healing potion," Harry whispered back, "but they have to be taken very early in the morning after the full moon."

With a flick of his wand the professor conjured a parchment with the recipe, before he handed Harry his quill. Harry thought for an instant and inserted the dew drops between the third and fourth brewing step, adding, '_fourteen and a half stirs, anti-clockwise_.'

"Are you sure, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked in surprise, causing Harry to chuckle. "Of course. That's one of the first potions we learned in our first Hogwarts year."

In the meantime, most of his classmates had finished brewing, and the professor quickly dismissed the class. "Mr. Potter," he said thoughtfully, "who taught you Potions? Professor Slytherin?"

"Yes sir. He was the Potions professor and Potions Master," Harry replied, glad that his classmates, who had been looking at him curiously, had left the room. "Ceridwen and I were allowed to attend classes from the age of eight onwards. Therefore, we already studied Potions for three years, and Potions was one of my favourite classes. After Runes in fact," he added thoughtfully. "Don't we have Runes classes here in this time?"

The professor looked up, deep in thoughts. "Runes classes only begin from third year onwards. I'll check the time tables though and if the third year Runes classes don't collide with any of your main subjects, I shall speak with my colleagues and ask if you may attend. The problem is that no one is supposed to know why you're ahead in several of your classes."

"I don't think I'll be much ahead, sir," Harry replied quickly. "In Potions maybe yes, although the recipes could be slightly different from what I learned. However, I have problems casting spells with a wand..." He quickly told the professor what had happened in Transfiguration.

"Harry, I will join you for your conversation with Professor McGonagall tonight. I suggest that we tell her the truth. She won't tell your secret to the Headmaster, and she'll be a valuable ally, especially if we notice that you're too advanced for some classes or need more training for others. We should also take Ms. Hufflepuff with us, considering that she will probably have similar problems to what you are having."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

After dinner, Severus, Harry and Ceridwen visited Professor McGonagall and told her the truth about Ceridwen and Harry. Harry anxiously observed the professor, who had a stern expression on her face, while Severus informed her about how Harry had spent his last five years. Only when the Potions Master finished, the edges of her mouth pulled upwards, and a huge smile spread across her face.

"Harry, I'm very glad that you got away from your horrible relatives and found such a nice home," she said warmly.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said gratefully and listened quietly when Severus explained about the classes Harry and Ceridwen had already attended in the past.

The teachers decided that Harry would be allowed to attend the third year Ancient Runes class. He was going to miss two of his History of Magic classes and one Potions class, and the professors told him sternly that he would still be supposed to take his tests in History of Magic at the end of the school year. Ceridwen was allowed to miss Herbology and History of Magic classes in favour of private Healing classes with Madam Pomfrey, provided that the Mediwitch would agree to teach her, which was very likely, although they'd have to let her in on their secret. The professors also agreed to take turns teaching both children in wand magic in Helga's quarters every day between the last afternoon class and dinner.

Harry smiled happily when he sank into bed that evening. All of the problems that had arisen throughout the day seemed to be solved, and he looked very much forward to his first Ancient Runes class that was going to take place first thing in the morning.

At the beginning of the class, the third year students eyed him with suspicion; however, one class of Ancient Runes was enough for everyone to accept that Harry was not only as ready to learn about Runes as themselves, but that he could answer all questions and seemed to be at least two years ahead of them already.

Unfortunately, his next class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, was much less pleasant. Not only did Harry once more have problems with wand magic, but from the moment he entered the classroom, his head exploded in pain. '_What am I going to do?_' he thought frantically when the professor instructed them to pair up and cast the Expelliarmus spell at their partner. He looked around, seeing Neville stand right behind him.

"Would you like to practise together?" he asked hesitantly, sighing in relief when the Gryffindor nodded eagerly. "You begin," Harry instructed the other boy, and the two first years quietly practised the spell. Seeing that Neville failed to cast the spell properly, Harry only spoke the incantation, but didn't move his hand nor his wand in order not to harm his partner but to keep up appearances at the same time. Unfortunately, by the end of the class his headache had become so bad that he decided to skip lunch and take a nap. He quickly exchanged a few words with Blaise in case anyone asked for him and returned to his dormitory, where he curled up on the small green bed the castle had once made for him, noticing that his headache completely vanished as soon as he lay down.

'_Something must be off with Professor Quirrell_,' he thought, resolving to speak with his Head of House when he had problems in the strange professor's presence again. Still feeling slightly nauseated, Harry remained in his dormitory, thinking about how to cast spells with wandless magic even with his wand in his hand. '_I'll need to do that in Charms too_,' he realised in anticipation of his first afternoon class. '_Thank God Ceridwen and I are going to have private classes with Professors Snape and McGonagall. I'm glad that Ceridwen has the same problems, even if they don't seem to be as bad as mine_.'

He laid his hand on the wall. "Hello Hogwarts, how are you?"

"Hello Harry, what are you doing here at this time of the day?" the old castle asked back, causing Harry to tell her everything about his Defence class.

"Hmmm," the castle made thoughtfully. "I have an idea, although I'm not sure if it'll work. You can try to release some of your magic into my walls, before you attend classes, during which you have to use your wand. Afterwards, you need to touch my walls again to have your magic returned."

"Can we try it out immediately?" Harry asked eagerly, sitting up in excitement. The castle agreed, just when Professor Snape entered the dormitory. '_Oh no_,' Harry groaned inwardly, but asked the castle, "What do I have to do?"

"Just leave your hand on my wall. I'm going to borrow fifty percent of your magic. We'll have to see if that's enough or perhaps too much. You might feel a bit tired. Anyway, touch my wall again after your Charms class, and I'll refill your magic."

Harry instantly began to feel tired. "Okay. Thank you, Hogwarts," he replied quietly and finally pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry, Professor," he turned to Severus, who stood next to him, quietly observing his interaction with the castle.

"What exactly was that?" the professor asked sternly, causing Harry to quickly explain. "We'll see if that works," Severus said thoughtfully. "Nevertheless, you are not to miss any meals. One toad for missing lunch, Mr. Potter."

Harry looked at his Head of House in shock and quickly explained about Professor Quirrell and his headache.

Severus remained pensive for a moment, before he said, "If it happens again, please come to me immediately, so that we can find out when and why it happens."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Harry noticed soon that the castle's idea had been brilliant. In his Charms class, he barely managed the Lumos charm and only after Draco managed to cast it. Unfortunately, after practising the charm a few times, he felt exhausted like Hogwarts had predicted. '_That's still so much better than burning things_,' he thought in relief as he pocketed his wand at the end of the class, pondering where he could speak to the castle to retrieve his magic back without being heard or seen by others. '_Well, maybe Hogwarts will understand that I'm not able to talk when other students are around_,' he finally thought and unobtrusively placed his hand on the wall as if to steady himself when they waited to be let into the Potions classroom for their second afternoon class. He let out a relieved sigh when he felt the magic being returned into his body.

'_I must tell Ceridwen_,' he thought when he entered Helga's quarters for their lesson with Professors McGonagall and Snape. However, his foster sister was much too excited to listen.

"Harry, Harry, my Healing class was so interesting. You won't believe what they can do in this time. I can't wait to tell Helga and Mum about what I learned today. It's so much faster and easier to heal someone's bones than it was in our time," she blurted out in excitement. "Oh Harry, it's such a pity that we can't have classes together due to being in different Houses," she finally ended her monologue, looking sadly at Harry, who couldn't help chuckling at her enthusiasm.

"That's true," he said thoughtfully. "I'm glad that we can at least study together, although I'd love to bring Hermione, Neville and perhaps a few other nice students, so that we could all spend some time together."

"Well, maybe we'll be able to tell Hermione and Neville the truth some time, but I think it's still too early. We don't know them well enough," Ceridwen replied pensively. "But I have an idea. Why don't we ask Hogwarts to make a study room for all the first years, where we can all meet and study together, indifferent of our House?"

Harry eagerly agreed, although they didn't have time to speak with the castle due to the professors' arrival.

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tbc…

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I appreciate them very much._

_Thanks to Mushcorn for her invaluable help, advice, and editing._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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